Jack and Daynalee Ady

Anne's Infertility

2012-01-22T21:28:00.003-07:00

It has now become official. Anne will never bare children. We talked quite a bit about whether or not we wanted to eventually breed Anne. We loved the idea of little puppies and especially the money we could get for them. But when it came right down to it we felt like the best thing for us and for Anne would be for her to be fixed. I was hoping we could get an appointment over Christmas break so I could be home with her all day while she recovered. The soonest they could get us in was the first week of January but they did have a Friday available so we could still be there for the weekend.

I took her in before work on Friday morning. The waiting room was full of other dogs being dropped off and Anne freaked out. She clung to me the entire time. Anne usually loves other people. When we drop her off at the groomers she literally jumps into their arms. She can't wait to be showered with attention. So for her to be so clingy made it really hard. I'm sure she could sense my stress and the stress of every dog/human in that room. When the tech came to take her back I had to physically unhook her claws from my body. Poor thing.

I had to wait until I got off of work to pick her up, so it was a long day. When I picked her up at 3:30 she was pretty somber. I picked her up and she just looked at me. I'm sure all the dog people out there will say she was just groggy from the drugs, but I know she was secretly hating me behind that stare.

For the first night she was pretty sore and sad. We packed her around and spent the evening watching TV on the bed with her. Everyone warned us that she would be sore for quite a while and we'd need to keep a close eye on her. By day 2 she was over being sore and returned to the energetic puppy who wants to jump on everything and wrestle with us. We tried to keep her from jumping on stuff and kept her in her playpen most of the day but she recovered fabulously. She is back to being our crazy psycho pup-- and we love her.

Week 2 Weigh In

2012-01-21T14:37:00.003-07:00

Our engagement photo. Life before fast food and ice cream became our hobbies.

On the show Biggest Loser they always have the dreaded "week 2". The first week you lose all your water weight and you have a huge number. Week 2 numbers are always significantly smaller. I'm not sure why I thought I could skip over that. I lost almost 10 pounds in week 1 and this week I dropped 1.4 pounds. It's still a loss but not nearly as much as I had hoped for.

I had a few setbacks this week. I managed to get a 30 minute workout in every day. Unfortunately Wednesday night I was having a Debbie Downer day and decided a cup of chocolate chips and cheetos would cure the problem. They didn't. I ended up feeling sick all night and then the guilt made me feel sick the rest of the week. Friday night I decided to make cupcakes for my free day (Saturday) and I found myself picking in the cake batter the entire time. Not okay. So I can see where I need to fix some things for this week.

This week my goal is to get a 30 minute workout every day. I'm going to avoid snacking on junk food completely and I'm going to do better planning my lunches. I did okay drinking my water this week but I'm going to up my intake and finish at least 1 Liter before work is over every day. My goal is to lose 3.1 this week which will get me out of the 250's FOREVER!

I felt really disappointed when I got on the scale this morning but by the time we left our Weight Watchers meeting I had decided to brush it off and learn from my week.

On the bright side. Jack reached his goal weight this week. He's lost over 50 pounds since starting weight watchers and he weighed in at 189.6 this morning. Hooray! He has 6 weeks to maintain that and then he will become a lifetime member. Then we can stop paying for his weight watchers and we will be 40 dollars richer every month! =)

Week 1 Weight Loss

2012-01-14T19:23:00.003-07:00

*For all of our viewing pleasure here is a picture of pre-fatty Dayna. I was about 170ish here.

I figure since this is my blog I can write whatever I want on it. As you know, one of my new year goals was to lose 64 pounds. I went back to Weight Watchers to take responsibility and to start my new life. I weighed in last week at 263.8 pounds. Gross. I decided to jump right in this week and pre-planned all of my meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jack is in school full time so I am on my own 3 out of 5 nights during the week. I knew if I didn't have a clear plan of attack I would go crazy in the kitchen by myself. Breakfast was cooked oatmeal with vanilla yogurt and a banana, lunch switched off between salad/fruit and cottage cheese/boiled egg/ fruit, dinner most nights was a turkey sandwich and fruits and veggies but I did throw in a veggie chicken patty sandwich and a bowl of rice chex a few nights. I snacked on Peanut Butter and Oranges but tried to keep my snacking to a minimum. I took a 1 liter water bottle to work and finished at least one of those a day (which is HUGE for me) I worked out Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

After I weighed in last week I told Jack I was shooting for a 6 lb loss this week. I was only able to fit in 3 workouts so I changed my goal from 6 to a 3. I felt like I would be pretty proud of a 3 lb loss. I stepped on the scale this morning and saw the numbers stop at 254.4. That's a 9.4 lb loss in ONE WEEK! I jumped off and high fived Jack. That's the most I've ever done in one week and I was beyond excited. Turns out I was the biggest loser at WWers this week. I'll take it!

This week really proved to me that pre-tracking and sticking to your guidelines really works. I really felt like because I pre-tracked I thought less about food. I just knew what I was going to eat and when I was hungry I ate it. I had a few un-planned snacks during the week (mini cupcake, jerky and skittles-- all on different days) but I made sure I tracked them and stayed within my points plus values. Seeing that I can lose 9.4 pounds and still have eaten some of my favorite "sinful" treats really feels great. I want to see what I can do WITHOUT eating those during the week but I really do feel great.

Now we're on to the dreaded week 2. On Biggest Loser it's notorious for being a low weight loss week. I am determined to stay away from the "sinful treats" this week and make sure I get a good 60 minute workout every day. I'm shooting for a 6 this week. Tune in next Saturday to see what happens.

*I realize a healthy weight loss is between 1/2 lb - 2 lbs a week. I know eventually my weight loss will slow down but for the first few weeks I am hoping it will come off a bit faster.

2012 Stuff

2012-01-08T21:17:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love the clean slate that comes with a new year. I know everyone feels like this year is going to be "their year" but for me it's true! I set a few personal goals and Jack and I set quite a few goals as a couple. We also set a yearly theme for our little family. Goals that are not written down are just wishes.... so here is how our year is going to go.

We decided to set a family theme this year. We really wanted to focus on becoming better and strengthening our marriage at the same time. We chose "I love us" as our family theme. We set goals to help us become the people we want to be. We are constantly saying we wish we were skinny people, or wealthy people or more spiritual people. Our goals, at times, might feel like we are denying ourselves the things we want-- but in reality we are doing this because we deserve better. We love us enough to give up the things we want now to get the things we want most. Our goals will also help us reach the point where we can be the people we have always wanted to be. We can honestly look at every aspect of our lives and feel like we love the people we have become. I'm so excited about this!

We set 8 goals for our marriage that we will work on together.

#1 Attend the Temple

We have gotten a little lax on our temple attendance and this year we are setting a realistic goal to increase our visits.

#2 Finish the Book of Mormon

We've started reading the Book of Mormon many times in our marriage but we've never actually finished the entire thing. This year we're going to finish reading the entire thing.

#3 Date Night

We're taking the time out every Saturday to spend quality time with each other. Instead of the fast food/watching tv dates we're used to we're going to plan out fun "quality time" with each other.

#4 Walk Anne

This might seem like such a silly goal but we've really slacked on our dog walking. Anne is such a sweet puppy and walking her more often will give us more exercise as well as chill her out. We found a make-shift dog park near our house and we're looking forward to spending a lot of time there.

#5 No Eating Out During the Week

Jack and I both do weight watchers and we allow Saturday to be our "free day". We plan on keeping Saturdays special by not eating out at all during the week. This will also help keep more money in our bank account. You don't even want to know how much we spent at restaurants in December. (we added it up-- it was scary!)

#6 Finish the Basement

We are currently sitting on 1350 sq ft. of unused home. We have the coolest plans for our basement and we even have the money set aside to do it! We just have to get our buns in gear. When we're finished we'll have a huge family room with a HD screen and projector as well as a small reading nook, a large office/work out room big enough to fit our treadmill and weight machine while still giving Jack his office space and room for his music recording equipment, an enormous spare bedroom, a cold storage room and a 3rd bathroom. It will really add a lot to our home and we're looking forward to finishing it.

#7 No Impulse Purchases

Jack and I are very fortunate to have great jobs that provide us with enough money to pay our bills and have some play money. Because of this we have got in the habit of buying things whenever we think we want them, regardless of the need. This year we are really going to pull back and think about purchases before we make them.

#8 Pay off our Credit Card

We went through most of our marriage without having any credit card debt, but a few years ago we fell into the trap. We've slowly been paying it off but we've really just been paying the interest every month. We have $900 on our card and plan on putting $150 towards our bill every month until it is payed off.

Personal Goals

I decided to really focus on 2 personal goals this year. There are so many aspects of my life that I want to perfect but I chose 2 that I am really passionate about right now.

#1 Lose 64 pounds.

I know this is letting the cat out of the bag but I've come to realize that weight is just a number. I pretend if I don't tell anyone that they will magically think I am skinny. Everyone can see the way I look. You knowing the number on the scale doesn't automatically make me look fatter or skinnier. I weighed in yesterday at a whopping 264. This is sadly not the heaviest I've ever been but it's not a number I am proud of whatsoever. I stopped living my weight watcher lifestyle and put 23 pounds on in less than 2 months. It's a sad and disgusting reality, but it is a reality. I'm determined to hit One-derland by the end of this year. I bought a treadmill and have pre-planned my meals for the week. It's a start. And a start I'm very excited to make!

#2 Expand my Craft Business

I absolutely love that I can make money doing something I love in my free time. I love making blocks and knowing that my work is decorating hundreds of people's homes. I love doing custom orders for people and I love coming up with new ideas that I know are going to be so cute! This year I plan on expanding from just doing the Holly Fair to either selling in a boutique or doing at least 1 other craft fair. This scares me to death because I have to put myself out there one more time, but I'm really excited about it!

So there you have it. The (very long) breakdown of how 2012 will really become "Our Year"

Anne's Christmas

2012-01-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

I feel like Anne should get her own post to document her first Christmas. Plus puppy pictures are so stinking cute!

She loved the idea of opening presents. She would sit and watch for a few seconds and then she'd help tear the rest off and go crazy with whatever was inside. It was great fun for her.

She spent ALL day with Daddy. She watched basketball most of the day cuddled up on his lap.

She loved her presents. Anything that squeaks is a winner in her book.

She loved her little monkey toy. And don't even pretend like a puppy in long johns is not the cutest thing you've ever seen.

She got a new bed for Christmas. At first it freaked her out and she had to sniff and scratch every inch of it. Now she jumps right in and curls up in a ball while we all watch TV. She loves it.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas as well!

Christmas Dinner

2012-01-02T09:58:00.002-07:00

Of course the 2nd best part of Christmas is Christmas dinner. I get all Martha Stewarty and bake a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, twice baked yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce and rolls. It was absolutely delicious.

Jack wanted test out my new camera so he used the turkey as his model.

Even Anne got a delicious Christmas dinner. Santa left Tuna in her stocking so we mixed it in with her puppy food and Jack even iced her water. She was more than happy to eat her dinner and not beg for ours.

Christmas Morning Stuff

2012-01-02T09:53:00.001-07:00

We had a fabulous Christmas this year. It was our first Christmas in our new home which was so fun and it was Anne's first Christmas as well. She really is our baby and she was so spoiled. She absolutely loved it though. Call it "mothers intuition" but Christmas was the best day of her life so far.

Jack loves playing "santa" every year. So I put our his presents and then he swoops in and sets out all his presents to me and all our presents from our families. He spreads everything out so when I wake up in the morning it looks like Santa dumped his sleigh. I love it!

Anne got a bunch of presents as well. She absolutely loved it. She would open one and then play with it until it was her turn again. She couldn't get over the fact that she got so many new things that she knew were meant for her.

Here's the mandatory picture of all our garbage.

Jack was so hard to shop for this year. He couldn't think of anything he wanted and literally gave me nothing to work with. I had to come up with my own ideas and hope he would be happy. He got a new L shaped desk for his office, an arrested development poster, new clothes, lots of blu rays, video games, exercise equipment, and new headphones for the gym and work.

I am so easy to shop for. I ask for the same thing every year and would perfectly content to get purses and jewelry for the rest of my life. Jack surprised me this year by getting me a Nook. I never knew I wanted one till I had it. I absolutely loved it and spent the next 24 hours locked up reading. He also spoiled me with my jewelry, purses, chick flick movies, boots, leg warmers, and home decor.

Christmas Eve 2011 Stuff

2012-01-02T09:43:00.001-07:00

I was looking through all of my old Christmas pictures and I realize every year it's the exact same thing. haha. A picture of each of us in our new PJ's. A shot of the presents pre-opened, the garbage afterwards, our delicious dinner and perhaps one or two of us cheesing it up for the camera. Not much changed this year. Same pictures. Just a year older.

Here's a recap of our Christmas Eve. We opened PJ's from our Christmas Brownie Bernard. He even left some for Anne.

Then we made delicious snack foods. Chili and Cream Cheese dip, bacon wrapped chicken and bacon ranch bread. We settled down for our traditional viewing of Christmas Vacation and anxiously awaited our Christmas morning.

Christmas Decor

2012-01-02T09:36:00.001-07:00

I love decorating for Christmas. This year I got all my decor out and realized I have no shelf space for anything. So it was somewhat of a toned down version this year. I shopped all the after Christmas sales though and plan to really amp up my game next year.

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

2011 Has been a dramatic shift from our typical mundane, hum-drum, run of the mill years we’ve collected so far; turn on some background music and get comfy-- we’ll tell you the few parts that make us sound cool.

Jack had an occupational change in January: he is now a judge. You’ve got to admit that’s pretty darn impressive for someone his age, right? Not a traditional judge, mind you. Jack works in the Quality department and judges his co-workers for a living, but let’s not nit-pick the jargon—a judge is a judge.

Dayna continues to be a constant at Westmore Elementary School where she is the most desired Title One Teacher’s Aide. In fact, both her and Jack are so valuable that their businesses are paying 200% the rate of half of what they got a year ago.

Dayna also continues to thrive in an industry of tax dodging, back door dealing, crafty-types known as crafters. She has been able to get quite a following based on her performance at the annual Holly Fair, and that keeps her busy almost year round doing custom orders for a hefty fee. She also accepts money in exchange for nothing.

On one boring afternoon, Dayna started worrying that we perhaps were running low on debt. Since everyone is worried about the housing market and economy, we decided to give our money to the people who need it the most: large banks. After looking at approximately 3,189 houses in Utah County, we still lived in an apartment in a neighborhood that Charlie Sheen once called, “Trashy.”

We toured dozens of houses formerly lived in by families of cats who clearly work in the meth production industry. “The ceiling is collapsing in the living room, and the basement ceilings are six feet tall in this one.” Jack said. “All we’ll need is nice crown molding.” Dayna would say, her unblinking, blood-shot eyes scaring even our new realtor, and this guy was a survivor.

On the brink of losing hope, Jack agreed to submit an offer on one of the least gross places they had looked at. Immediately after faxing in the paper work, Dayna got a call from competent realtor man (should we do another code name? Why not? His name is now Phil.) Phil called and said that the house which she and Jack had desired the most had accepted their initial offer. Dayna responded with a high pitched noise that most likely reward Phil with a hearing aid later in life. Jack felt the same way as Dayna though, but expressed it through much lower pitched, manly noises.

With a new house around the corner, the reality of hairy animal living with us—something we all dream of-- was about to come to fruition. There was a hitch in the plan, though. Earlier in the year—before the reality of actually getting a house had fully set in—we had purchased tickets to go to Disneyland.

The dates we would be in “The Happiest Place on Earth” (Editor’s note: what if you got the flu there? Wouldn’t be the happiest place, obviously) took place about two weeks after we moved into our new house. This meant we would need to, as responsible adults, wait until after our California trip before purchasing a puppy. JK, we bought her right away.

Anne (named after the character from Arrested Development) is our little Pomeranian, who isn’t spoiled. She never barks, is potty trained, loves everyone and won’t bite even if you stole food from inside her mouth. You may think that you’re detecting some sarcasm here, but she’s genuinely a great dog and we’re really grateful we got such a sweet puppy. I wish there was something funny to say about her, but she’s just adorable and we love her. Hopefully from the very pained expression on her face from our included picture will bring you your own holiday LOL; she really hated that outfit.

Our new house was not as dreamy as we had imagined it right away, but soon after doing several months of exhaustive renovations, we felt like all new home owners do; we don’t know where the previous owners are, but we sure hope that they’re homeless and sad now. They’ve earned it.

We are less fat than a year ago. We realize this is blatant bragging, but last year things were looking a little bleak for us. While asking for donations during a fund raiser last year, we actually had someone say, “Hey, Jabba. Look, I was just on my way to pay you back, but I got a little sidetracked! It's not my fault...” Although we did immediately refer to that person as “Bantha Fodder,” I should also note that this story is completely made up and just a lame excuse to include fat jokes, Star Wars references and back door bragging in our Christmas letter. Between the two of us we’ve lost over 100 pounds, or the weight of two dead Ewoks. We look so pretty now.

Also notable this year: Dayna directed and co-starred in a yet to be released Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Jack secretly dated Country Superstar Taylor Swift while pretending to be Taylor Lautner (which involved a lot of hunching, unnecessary shirtless time and terrible, terrible acting) and our dog Anne released Miley Cyrus’ new album, which Rolling Stone called, “substantially better than her other stuff.”

So as the year winds down we are pretty grateful for our boring lives, and those of you who continually help to keep them that way. We hope this Christmas finds you all safe, happy, healthy and living far enough away to not cause any serious damage.

Merry Christmas!

Jack, Dayna and Anne

Crafting Stuff

2011-09-02T10:20:00.004-06:00

Working for the school district offers MANY perks. One of them being summer. I usually look for a summer job but this year I procrastinated too long and I ended up just staying home and not working. Oh how I love not working. I used the summer months to get a head start on my craft fair (November 4-5th, mark your calendar). I have a ton of fun stuff ready to sell but I decided I needed 1 craft project that could be all for me!

When we moved into this house one of my most favorite things was that we had a peep hole in the front door. Now I can successfully ignore everyone while still knowing who came to my house. Score! So there was no way I was hanging my wreath on my door (it covered my peep hole). I ended up using a hook on my house but every few weeks it would fall off and I would have to go buy another one. I finally decided I needed a stand on my porch. Something adorable but I was too cheap to buy one. I used scrap wood and a hook I had and spent $1.75 at the DI for a base and the corner piece and whiped up this beauty. I am SO happy with the results. Did I mention I spent $1.75?

7 peaks stuff

2011-07-22T09:52:00.002-06:00

Last summer I was spoiled because my sister lived here. We spent almost every day together and we had so much fun. I miss having someone to cook for and someone who cleaned my house and entertained me when I needed it. I miss her! Luckily she's come out to visit a couple times. I think she secretly misses me more than I miss her.

A few weeks ago she came out to visit and we drug her to 7 peaks with us. We had SO much fun!

I love when she visits.

Jack is the tiny person ON the slide. This slide is way too scary for me. I've had bad experiences on slides like this. haha

In a nutshell... I love sister time.

Backyard Camping

2011-07-20T09:44:00.003-06:00

Jack loves the idea of camping. The food, the games, the tent, the fire, everything. Unforuntately he is completely convinced that the minute the sun goes down bears are circling his tent and planning their next meal. We've been camping a few times together and both times we ended up sleeping in our car. He honestly can't handle it. So a few weeks ago we decided to camp in our backyard. We have a fire pit so we could still enjoy s'mores and we could still eat camping food-- we'd just avoid the bears.

Jack's idea of camping food is a tinfoil dinner filled with steak, potatoes, corn and LOTS of butter. Delicious. I'm more of a hot dog kind of girl. We both got what we wanted and enjoyed it immensely.

Even Anne got to sleep in the tent with us.

Jack hates playing cards but since we were camping I convinced him it was a must.

Backyard camping is the way to go! It started sprinkling on us in the middle of the night so we ended up sleeping inside BUT this is the camping style we can enjoy all summer long.

Disneyland Stuff

2011-07-18T21:35:00.004-06:00

Every spring Jack and I try to go on a vacation. Since I work for the school district it works out perfectly over spring break. This year we decided to go to Disneyland. Jack had been once as a kid but got sick and was only able to go on a few rides. It broke my heart that this 27 year old man had never enjoyed Disneyland before! We bought 3 day hopper passes and off we went.

The first ride we went on was Indiana Jones. This is one of the rides Jack had never been on and he said as a kid he was so jealous when his brothers got back and told him all about it. It was a must. We waited in line (we hadn't discovered fast pass tickets yet) for what seemed like hours, but it was so worth the wait. I think it was more fun for me just being with someone who was that excited.

They had a Tron section in California Adventure. We had to stop and capture this picture. haha it turned out perfect.

I told Jack at the beginning of our trip that we had to get a picture with a character. He was less than enthusiastic. On our last evening there I realized I had no character pictures so we hunted around the park and Pluto was the only one we found. Not the best pic but I got what I went there for.

We planned on getting up early one morning to get in before the park opened, unfortunately the fire alarm at our hotel went off in the middle of the night. We ended up sleeping in. We did show up right when it opened one morning and waited in line with the rest of the crazy people. We got on a lot of the kiddie rides that morning though (the lines for those rides are CRAZY!).

No Disneyland trip would be complete without the Mickey head picture. This vacation was absolutely perfect. We always have so much fun together.

Outside Stuff

2011-07-18T21:32:00.002-06:00

When we moved in the yard/outside was the worst on the block. Granted it was just barely spring and the previous owners hadn't had the time/desire to do anything with the yard so we got stuck with it. Our culdesac has EMACULATE yards. Lots of trees, flowers and perfect grass. Unforuntately I am not a gardner. We settled for a few flowers in the front and wood chips in the rest of the flower gardens. It will do for now. We'll get around to landscaping next year.

I really wanted to paint my front door. Initially I wanted to paint it black. I love black and I would still have loved it that color but everyone I asked said RED. I faintly remember telling my friend that I would NEVER have a red door. I hated it. And that's what I ended up with. I absolutely love it. It's the pop of color the house needed and I couldn't be happier.

Bedroom Stuff

2011-07-18T21:28:00.005-06:00

The last room in the house was our Bedroom/Bathroom. It got neglected until the very end because it's huge. I was just really tired of painting by this point. I knew I wanted it done though so one week we hauled out the paint and tackled the last project. The walls were gross white. Lots of marks on the walls and in desperate need of an update.

We painted the bed/vanity/bath rooms (they are all connected) a dark tan and accented with Browns and Whites and pops of Teal. It's similar to the living room but more white.

I love it.

Man/Craft/Den/Cave Stuff

2011-07-18T21:26:00.003-06:00

Like I said before, there were only 2 rooms the previous owners had painted. The yellow living room and this childrens room. I think they had us in mind when they decided to paint the ENTIRE room in blue (including the ceiling) with puffy white clouds. The knew how much we would hate them for it. It was awful. Painting the ceiling was the worst part. I will NEVER do that to any future owners.

We turned that room into our Man/Craft/Den/Cave. A mix of everything Jack and I needed a room for. We painted the walls a brownish gray and accented with white. I LOVE this room. I've seen the concept done on home decor blogs and I knew I had to recreate it. This room is just a limbo room while we finish the basement. Once that is done Jack will move his Man Den to a room downstairs and the rooms will shuffle. For that reason I didn't go all out with the decor like I would have wanted. It's fine for now. We like it.

We created Hers and His sides of the room. It was a cute touch.

Perfect crafting/computering room.

Living Room Stuff

2011-07-18T10:45:00.010-06:00

There were only 2 rooms in the house that the previous owners had painted. The living room happened to be one of them. I love yellow but the yellow on these walls was not a pretty site. The owners had used screws to hang stuff on the walls so there were huge holes all over. It was not good. This was another room we finished while my mom was out for the weekend. It took most of our time but it is BY FAR my favorite room in the entire house. I love it.

We painted the walls a light tan/dark cream. I really wanted a vintage look with browns and creams and pops of teal. We decorated with old cupboard doors, shutters, and lots of re purposed DI treasures. (I LOVE the DI)

I could spend all of my time in this room. It turned out better than I ever imagined. Could it be any more perfect. I think not.

Spare Bathroom Stuff

2011-07-18T10:40:00.004-06:00

One of the rooms we were able to finish with my mom was the spare bathroom. This bathroom was BAD! It was ugly white with random colored sea shells painted as a border through across the middle of the entire room. Complete with a seashell light cover. Nice.

I wanted it to fit with the same theme as the spare room to keep things flowing. We painted in a similar mustard color and decorated with blacks. I LOVE empty frames (you'll notice a pattern throughout my house-- haha)

It turned out great. Huge upgrade and exactly what I wanted.

Spare Room Stuff

2011-07-18T10:27:00.002-06:00

The week after we moved in my mom came out to spend the weekend and help me paint and decorate. We had 48 hours together and we worked non stop. We ended up getting 3 rooms and the hallway completely finished. It was amazing!

One of the rooms we finished was the spare room. It had the same dirty white walls as the kitchen. There were holes ALL over the room from the previous owners screwing screws in the wall to hang up there pictures (no nails for these people).

Every wall got a fresh coat of mustard/gold paint. We decorated in blacks to create a contrasting but inviting color combination. I LOVE this room. I took all the black decorations from my apartment and re purposed them in this room.

This spare room is perfect for us. It's relaxing and refreshing and ALWAYS ready for guests (hint hint)

Kitchen Stuff

2011-07-18T10:12:00.003-06:00

I had spent SO much time thinking about decorating my house. Long before we ever signed the paperwork I had plans. Big plans. So the minute we walked through our front doors I started the decorating. EVERY wall in my house got a fresh coat of paint and some major upgrades.

We started in the kitchen. The walls were a VERY DIRTY white with pink blinds on all the windows and pink counter tops. I love pink but this kitchen made me sad.

We painted one wall chocolate brown and repainted the doors white. The 2 remaining walls we installed a chair rail and painted the upper section cream and the bottom we painted the same chocolate brown. We accented with reds and whites. LOVE this room!

We painted the backsplash in the kitchen and above the counters the same cream color. We plan on redoing the kitchen with granite countertops soon but I couldn't live with pink countertops. I picked up a laminate paint from Home Depot and turned the counters into a tan. It will do for now.

I love my kitchen. It turned out exactly the way I wanted.

Anne Stuff

2011-07-15T12:56:00.006-06:00

I think the thing that excited us the most about buying a home is that we would be able to have a dog. We've talked about the kind of puppy we wanted and we had spent a lot of Saturdays at pet stores. We agreed on a Pomeranian. They are adorable puppies and they are tiny dogs. Exactly what we wanted. Before we found out we got out house we had planned a trip to Disneyland. We were scheduled to leave 2 weeks after we moved into our house. We decided we would wait until after Disneyland before we bought a puppy. Unfortunately I am the least patient person in the world. When I have an idea in my mind I want it NOW. The puppy was no exception. A few days before we moved into the house I found an ad on KSL for Pomeranian/Yorkie puppies and sent the link to Jack. He fell in love and told me if they still had them after he got off work we would at least go look at them. I called the lady and we planned to meet at the Walmart parking lot to check them out. She said she had 1 little girl left we could look at.

On the way to see the puppy Jack and I decided to come up with a signal. If we loved the puppy we would scratch the right side of our face. If we didn't we would scratch the left side. That way we would know what the other was thinking without discussing it in front of the previous owners.

Unfortunately as soon as I stepped out of the car and saw this little girl bundled up in her pink blanket, I completely forgot all about the signal and turned to Jack and said we HAVE to have her. She was absolutely perfect. 5 minutes later we were a new family of 3.

We named her Anne. She gets her name from the Arrested Development character Anne (we have an arrangement with friends that all of our pets will have Arrested Development names). We immediately took her to meet her cousin Lucky at Sam and Tiffany's. Everyone loved her. She spent her first night at the apartment with us and we couldn't get enough. Everyone who came to help us move had to play with this little fluff ball. She LOVES people and attention.

I realize she's not the tiny puppy she was when we got her, so I'll give a few stats on her current development. Anne just turned 5 months on July 2nd.

She loves: watermelon, new people, kids, belly rubs, playing fetch, empty toilet paper rolls, car rides, going on runs with Dad and sitting under the lawn furniture just chilling with mom.

She hates: getting her nails clipped, baths, being ignored and grapes.

She's a very happy girl. She never barks and is so much fun to have around. I don't know what we would do without her.

House Stuff

2011-07-15T12:20:00.003-06:00

*this post has a lot of dates and random information no one will care about--

it's mostly for journaling purposes.

At the end of November 2010 Jack and I started looking at houses online. At this point it was more just lusting after homes than really considering making the purchase. After finding a few we really liked we met with a Realtor and looked at a home in Lehi. It was a foreclosure in a newer area and just walking through the house got us both excited. We were ready for our own home. After our first Realtor stopped returning our phone calls we met someone who was as gung ho about finding our home as we were (we heart you Realtor Phil). We may or may not have picked him because his name was Phil.... and he was a Realtor... just like Modern Family. We just lucked out that he was a fabulous Realtor too.

For the next few months we looked at homes EVERY WEEKEND. And usually throughout the week too. I got online first thing every morning and looked at all the new listings. We spent hours after work driving around looking at all the houses we liked online. Phil got us in to look at any home we were even remotely interested in. We put in a few offers and were always outbid. We really wanted to stay in Orem but were willing to move to most of the nearby cities if we could get into something we liked. I was more willing to travel then Jack was. To be honest I reached a point (probably one week after we started looking) where I would have moved into an outhouse if it could be my own. I was NOT patient.

The last week of January we went to look at a home in Orem that looked perfect. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house tucked into an adorable culdesac. We were in love. It had an unfinished basement with plenty of room to grow and they were asking 140,000 for it. We took Jack's brother and his wife with us to look at it and we all loved it. On January 24th we put in an offer at 135,000 but we all knew there was no way we would get this house. It was a short sale home and we knew those took months and had to go through MANY people before you would even know if your offer was accepted. The sellers accepted our offer within a couple of days and we had hope. We waited and kept looking. We found a few more homes we liked and put in more offers.

At the end of February we looked at a house in North Orem not far from our dream home. It needed a lot of work but the price was significantly lower than our loan amount so we were interested. We put in an offer and then started playing the back and forth game with the bank. On February 25th the bank came back and told us there were multiple offer in on the home and if we were still interested we would need to up our bid and resend them all out paperwork. And we only had 2 hours to do it. Realtor Phil worked like crazy putting all the paperwork together and sending it over to us. Jack was at work so I signed everything and as soon as he got home with the car we sped back to his work so we could fax everything back to our Realtor. We were 30 minutes away from the deadline.

While Jack was faxing all of our paperwork I got a call from our Realtor. I answered and quickly assured him we had just faxed everything over to him so he should be waiting for it. He started making light conversation about how our day was going (this was weird because for the past 2 hours we had had many stressed conversations). He asked me if our weekend would be better if we knew we were moving into our house. I laughed and said yes, assuming he was implying that we wanted to know if we got the current house we were looking. He said good and told me he had just heard from the Realtor on our "dream home" and the bank accepted our offer. There was only one condition. We had to move in in 1 month. I think I told him to shut up a few times and squealed when Jack got back in the car. We had a house!!!

We drove past our "home" on the way back to our apartment and took stalkish pictures. It was the best news we had had in years and we were beyond excited! We called our families and posted it on facebook. It was hard to believe in 1 month we would be moving in to our OWN home. It was perfect. The next month was stressful. Dealing with Lenders, Realtors, Title Companies-- It did not run smoothly. But on March 25th the papers were signed, the boxes were packed and we moved into our home. And we've loved every second of it.

Christmas Stuff

2011-07-15T11:05:00.011-06:00

I feel like I've abandoned my blog. In all honesty I still think about it.... and we never officialy "broke up" so technically I suppose I can come back to it whenever I want. It's like a needy girlfriend. It lets me ignore it and treat it horribly but it's still there when I need her. =) My one reader will be happy I started blogging again. (shout out to you Kristin) I started to forget what I had done this year so I figured I better get back to journaling our journeys.

So lets go back to the main events that have happened since I took my break. Christmas 2010!

We heart Christmas at the Ady household. Jack informed me the other day that Echo Lake and Christmas are the best parts of the year and it was our job to over do them as much as possible. We're not cool though so overdoing Christmas just means we make gingerbread houses and eat food alone. yay!

Christmas Letter

2010-12-26T12:20:00.001-07:00

Dear Family & Friends,

This year has been an incredibly new, fresh and exciting year. For someone out there, I bet.

We started this year as we do every year; with January. The first month had some good news that came with it; Jack got to quit his terrible, terrible job at Teleperformance USA (a French company, by the way.) My computer is underlining that business name with the red squiggly that means a word is spelled wrong, but to me it looks like the awful glow of hell fire. That place is kind of a nightmare.

Jack moved to SecurityMetrics, a very nice company (started by a Canadian) where he actually doesn't wish he would get fired every day. Seriously, it is a great job which we are very grateful for, and we've actually got a few friends in town thanks to it.

Dayna continued her difficult labor of interacting with small children across the street. Technically, her title is a “title one teachers aid,” but I think it should be called “spending time with people with similar interests.” Go team Jacob!

In April we decided to take a vacation down in heave-- I mean, San Diego. San Diego is the end of the road. Literally. I was baffled the whole time there why we don't all try to cram ourselves in there. It was so pretty and fun that we were sad it was only a two day trip. Still, we petted dolphins, chased giant seagulls as they stole a bag of Sour Patch Kids from inside Dayna's purse, and ate fresh Swordfish tacos in gorgeous Coronado Island.

On our drive home, we detoured in less-luxurious Nowhere, California. That's where our tire exploded at 80 mph in the windiest place on the planet, and then it took over three hours for the masterminds at Walmart to change a tire in a deserted store on a Sunday.

Summer brought some variety for Dayna. She was lucky enough to get a nice minimum wage job that involved daily drama and attempted stabbings. This was very helpful in letting Dayna know that when she said “I hate six year olds” what she was really saying to her teacher’s aid job was “I love you.”

Later in the summer we took the long drive north to beautiful Echo Lake, Montana, where my Ady Grandparents graciously let us visit each year. I felt like this year, the trip really showed us that money truly doesn't buy happiness. Just kidding, of course it does. Money buys a wave runner, and so far that's as happy as any human has ever been without having to repent later. Wave runners are seriously awesome, although they unfortunately get approximately 35 feet to the gallon. We love money!

Since then we've basically just been working. We're both super excited to see what we get for Christmas, because when Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” we take that literally, and spend all of our money on material stuff so that we don't risk becoming rich sinners.

We've really had a good year. We're grateful for everyone who helped make that happen, and also grateful for those too far away to do any real damage. Seriously though, if you're reading this it means that you're someone special in our lives. Either that or your reading someone else's emails, and all the way to the end, in which case you could use the pick-me-up, so we love you too.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Halloween Decor Stuff

2010-11-16T00:52:00.006-07:00

This year Jack's work was having a costume contest- Jack did a ton of research and came up with this ingenious idea for Wilson from the show Home Improvement. He made the entire thing all by himself. It was hilarious. He didn't win but we saved the fence-- he may continue wearing this every year.

This year Jack really wanted to decorate our house for Halloween. We love Halloween at our house but I was so busy that I kept putting off the decorating. Jack offered to take care of everything so one night after work we found ourselves at the local party stores. They had such fun stuff! We came away spending more than we should have for Halloween but here is the end result. Totally worth it in my books!

*Kim offered to model for us- I'm thinking Americas Next Top Model winner!

Halloween Party Stuff

2010-11-16T00:37:00.011-07:00

I love the idea of hosting parties but when it comes right down to it I'm kind of a boring hostess. haha So when Halloween rolled around Jack wasn't surprised when I brought up the idea of having a few friends over for a party. I was determined to actually make this party fun though. I spent hours planning party games and working out the menu.

Sam, Tiffany, Higgs and Kimberly (Jacks brother, sister in law, Jack's old mission companion/our friend, and my little sister) came over and we broke up into teams and played minute to win it games. It was SO much fun. I haven't laughed that hard in ages- it was so easy and entertaining. We had 7 games and each person had 2 name cards. We each chose what games we wanted to participate in and then went head to head with a member from the opposite team. The girls ended up winning by 1 point in the last game so it was pretty intense.

We made homemade rootbeer with dry ice (my fave part of the whole party) and an entire table full of chips, dips, fruits, veggies and breadsticks. It was absolutely delicious.

After games we finished off our Halloween by watching Jack's favorite scary movie The Ring. I think my party was actually a success this year. I may even attempt it again next year (do you think anyone would care if I just repeated this party every year??? Why mess with a good thing?)

Halloween Stuff

2010-11-16T00:30:00.007-07:00

Jack had so much fun when we went to the Haunted Woods for our anniversary- he talked it up to his brother and sister in law and convinced them to come with us once more before Halloween. We always have so much fun with Sam and Tiffany and this was no exception. We made Sam go first and watching him was worth the $40 it cost to go again. He was terrified. He kept running off and leaving Tiffany to fend for herself. He screamed louder than either of us girls and kept all of us entertained. I can't wait to try a new Haunted House with them next year.

Anniversary Stuff

2010-11-16T00:13:00.006-07:00

This year our anniversary was on a Wednesday so I planned a fun anniversary getaway the weekend before. We still like to celebrate so we went out again on our real anniversary. We have specific restaurants where we celebrate specific events. Rodizio Grill is our usual anniversary spot. It never seems to disappoint. Jack surprised me with flowers and then whisked me off for dinner. After dinner Jack really wanted to go to the Haunted Woods in American Fork. I was a little harder to convince... It didn't sound fun for just 2 people. I love scary things but I wanted to get a huge group so I could scream without feeling like an idiot. In the end Jack won and I went with him. I am SO glad he makes me do fun things, even when I don't want to. We had so much fun---I cowered behind Jack for the entire hour but it was oh so worth it.

5 years stuff

2010-11-15T23:51:00.007-07:00

This year Jack and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. CRAZY that we have been married that long right? We think so. So much has happened in the last 5 years- some good, some bad- but I can't think of anyone in the world I would rather have by my side through it all. Jack truly is the better part of me. I keep him grounded, he keeps me silly. I keep him organized, he keeps me spontaneous. I remind him to be a grown up and he reminds me to act like a kid. We really do keep each other afloat. We are proof that you can meet someone, get engaged and get married all within a span of exactly 3 months (July 20th 2005- October 20th 2005) and somehow it just all works out.

This year we talked about going on a trip for our anniversary, but when it came right down to it what we both wanted was a nice weekend where we could just relax. Nothing that we "had" to do. When we go on trips we always feel rushed to do everything there is to do and make the most of our time away, so instead of traveling I decided to plan a weekend close to home. I got a hotel room with a jacuzzi tub and king sized bed and then "kidnapped" Jack for a relaxing getaway. I gave him clues to our destination with specific tasks he had to do before he could receive more clues. I think it was the first time in our marriage that I have completely surprised him. He was convinced we were headed to my favorite restaurant for dinner but instead our directions lead us to the front doors of our hotel. He was shocked to find his suitcase packed in the trunk.

We dropped our stuff off and changed for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant- Los Hermanos. We spent the evening pigging out on guacamole and chips and then returning back to the hotel for some intense TV watching and sparkling cider. It was so nice to have nothing to do. It may sound like I am just a crappy anniversary planner but it was exactly what we wanted/needed and Jack kept saying how absolutely perfect it was. We stayed up late talking and cuddling and even snuck in a Betos run before falling asleep. We slept in on Saturday and then decided instead of heading to Park City like I planned we would just stay in town and shop. I never turn down shopping so we spent the afternoon browsing movies, clothes and new bedding. We went to see The Social Network in the movie theater and then headed home.

It was absolutely perfect. I'm thinking I need a weekend like that much more than once a year!

Summer Stuff

2010-11-15T23:40:00.004-07:00

At the beginning of the summer Jack and I sat down and made a list of all the fun stuff we wanted to do together. Somehow summer can and went before we realized it and nothing got done. Sad right? Towards the end of summer Jack's work offered him free Orem Owls (baseball) tickets so he snatched them up and we got one item checked off our summer fun list. We drug Sam and Tiffany and Anna (Jack's brother, sister in law and sister) along with us which made it fun. We may just have to make this a summer tradition. I'm not usually into baseball but I think I could handle once a year.

Date stuff

2010-08-29T19:50:00.004-06:00

I have the sweetest husband in the entire world. I told him a few weeks ago that I wanted to go on a real date that didn't involve the usual dinner and a movie. I wanted something fun and unusual. He worked so hard and one Saturday afternoon he whisked me off to Bridal Veil falls where we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over our stove grill and then we "speed dated". Jack had prepared 5 different guy scenarios and 5 different girl scenarios. We had thirty seconds to read through our character and then we had 60 seconds to "date". haha it was so much fun. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. I'm so grateful for a husband who goes out of his way to make things special.

Kenron Stuff

2010-08-29T19:41:00.007-06:00

On Tuesday August 24th my sister in law went in to labor. She was 8 weeks early (due October 20th) so her labor was not exciting news to any of us. Kenron was born weighing 3 lbs 15 oz. and was immediately life flighted to Salt Lake. He is fighting hard and growing so strong every day. If you would like to learn more or keep up on their story you can visit his blog at KenronZaneWilkerson.blogspot.com

On August 25th Me, Jack and Kimberly drove to Salt Lake to meet Todd and Dana and my mom at the hospital and meet our little nephew for the first time. He is the sweetest little thing and we are so happy he is doing so well. We can't wait till he can come home! We love you Todd, Dana and Kenron!

School Shopping Stuff

2010-08-29T19:28:00.005-06:00

I love when my mom and sisters come to visit. I feel so lucky because my sister Kimberly moved to Orem to go to UVU. I miss my family and I can't even explain how happy it makes me to have her so close. Now when my mom comes into town we all get together for some quality girl time.

Mom brought Halle into town to do her school shopping. We met up for dinner at Cafe Rio (would my mom go anywhere else?) and then my mom left our evening plans up to the girls. She should know better than to do that. We convinced her to stay up late and go to see Letters to Juliette in the dollar theater wearing our pajamas. She was mortified at the thought but she was such a trooper and actually went out in public in her PJ's. I love my mommers. I love that she does fun things with us and never passes up on an opportunity to make a memory. I love my sisters and I love that we all have such a tight bond in our family. I am so grateful for them!

Echo Lake 2010 stuff

2010-08-29T19:06:00.007-06:00

I've recently been reminded that I haven't blogged in ages. It's mostly because I have no time, have no life and I rarely do anything blog worthy. I really am going to make a conscious effort to change that though. (the blogging part... I still doubt exciting things will happen in my life). I'll start with the most entertaining things we've done all summer. I hate summer. I think summer is only fun for kids who don't have to work and my mom who doesn't have to worry about the weather. I spend most of the time longing for October. Jack and I do have one summer tradition that we love though- we drive 10 hours to Echo Lake, Montana and spend a few days basking in the sun at Grandma and Grandpa Ady's cabin on the lake.

This year we decided to take a week off work and drive up. We had so much fun. I love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Ady and I'm lucky that we get along so well. We got to spend time with all of Jack's siblings this year. We spent most of the time playing in the water. I loved having the whole week to lay in the sun. I got to read a book and play on the computer. I took naps and visited with my sister in laws. It was fabulous.

I love vacations and can't wait to go back again next year.

Camping with Higgs Stuff

2010-05-01T19:49:00.008-06:00

Last weekend was SO gorgeous weather wise. We thought we were in the clear to start celebrating summer. Jack text me on Monday and asked if I wanted to go camping this weekend. I was super excited. I LOVE camping. I love camping food, games, talking, etc. We invited our friend Higgs to come with us so he could protect Jack from any bear attacks (Jack is beyond scared of bears and we usually end up sleeping in the car).

As the week progressed we realized our summer camping trip was turning into more of a winter camp out. We drove up near Nephi Utah to a campground we love (Ponderosa) which of course was closed for the winter. So we pulled over at a makeshift camp site on the side of the road near a creek. It was beautiful- especially for the side of the road.

We made Tinfoil dinners with steak and potatoes. Topped it off with S'mores. Which is by far my fave part of camp food. We explored our little area and then settled in for the night. Luckily none of us got much sleep the night before so we fell asleep incredibly early. I was sleeping on 3 blankets and a foam pad, snuggled in my sleeping bag and topped off with 4 heavy blankets on top of me. I slept warm a cozy. Which was nice since we woke up in the middle of the night to hear it snowing on us. Lucky us!

We packed up first thing in the morning and stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home to eat breakfast. Delicious pancakes covered in blackberries and cream. Delicious. Can't wait for our next camp out!

San Diego Stuff

2010-04-27T22:49:00.013-06:00

Argh. I need to be a better blogger. Part of it is that we never do anything exciting. And on the rare occasion that we do I put off blogging till I have "time". I'm sure we all know how often that comes around. So here it is. Late but here. That's all that counts.

A few weeks ago Jack and I felt like we deserved a vacation. For the first time in 4 years we got a tax return. We paid all our overdue bills and had a little bit left so we decided to go somewhere. We've been talking about going to San Diego for quite a while. Neither of us had been and it sounded so relaxing and fun. Exactly what we needed.

We packed up our car on Thursday night and drove to California. We got to San Diego at about 8am and it was heaven. We wanted to scope out some beaches and by total accident we ended up on Coronado Island and fell head over heels in love with that place. We stopped at a local market and grabbed some juice and donuts and ate breakfast on the beach. The locals waved at us. Everyone said Hi. The people were buying fresh flowers and produce. Everyone was walking or riding their bikes. It was relaxing. I wanted to sit on that beach for the rest of the weekend. It was amazing.

We spent the majority of the day on the Island. We went to a few different beaches. Ate dinner at a lovely outdoor restaurant. I even tried swordfish tacos. (which were amazing) We'd only been there a matter of hours and we were already feeling refreshed. Saturday we spent the entire day at Sea World. I've wanted to go for so long and it did not disappoint. We went to every show. We fed dolphins. Held star fish. It was amazing. I wish we could have stayed a few more days.

Sunday we drove back to Utah. It was the longest day ever! haha We left in the morning hoping to be back around 7 or 8 at night. We had a tire blowout a few hours away from San Diego and we spent over 3 hours stranded at a Wal-Mart while they fixed our tire. (It better indestructible if it took them that long!) We pulled into Orem at about 2am and literally fell into our beds. We both had to be up at 6 for a full days work. It's taken us a few weeks to catch up on our sleep but the trip was so worth it.

Easter Stuff

2010-04-18T09:34:00.009-06:00

Easter is one of those holidays that Jack insists is for kids. He doesn't really get into the whole dying Easter eggs and finding baskets. Luckily he married a girl that gets crazy excited about every holiday. I force him to enjoy them too.

This year I made Jack go on a treasure hunt to find his basket. He thinks I'm cheesy but later told me it was the best Easter. He humored me and dyed eggs (even though we always end up throwing them away). Then he BBQed some amazing steaks and asparagus for Easter dinner. Delicious.

Baylie Stuff

2010-03-14T09:56:00.010-06:00

Our favorite little girl is turning 2 this week. I remember when her parents moved into our ward and I leaned over to Jack and said "we should be friends with them cuz their baby is SO cute". Who would have known that her parents would be pretty great too =). We're so grateful to have such great friends. I've leaned on Kristin a lot this past year and honestly i'm not sure I could have gotten through it without her friendship and support. I love her to pieces! PLUS she shares her kids with me- she knows exactly what I need.

Baylie is turning two this week so Jack and I decided we wanted to take her on a birthday date. I was giddy ALL day waiting for 3:45 to roll around. haha We took her to the Bean Museum up at BYU to see all the animals. It took her a minute to warm up to all the stuffed scary animals but then she ran around like crazy. She loved looking at the fish on the wall and the birds. She knew the names of so many animals and loved telling us what they said.

After the museum we took her to a few pet stores to see live animals. She loved looking at the fish. One pet store had a tank on the bottom shelf with the lid off and she just stood over the tank watching the fish. She also loved the puppies and snakes. Ugh! She was mesmerized with the snakes climbing up the sides and staring at her. We're pretty sure they were planning their dinner. I HATE snakes!

After the pet stores we took her to McDonalds to eat dinner. All she wanted was fries and her apple juice. At one point I dumped her fries out into her chicken nugget box so she could grab them easier and she refused to eat them. It took us a minute to realize she wanted them back in the fry bag so I gave it back to her and she proceeding to put all the fries back in and then she was happy to continue eating them. haha so cute. She loved playing in the play land. Jack even let her go into the big jungle gym slides. haha He thought it was cute till she looked at me from the top and said "Dayna, help" so I sent him in to get her. She loved playing with the "music" (largo piano keys on the floor that make noise when you step on them) and jumping on the guitar.

We made her run errands with us too. I had to pick up a few things from the grocery store and Jack kept her entertained by pretending to run into things or fall and she would laugh hysterically. I'm sure people thought we were ridiculous because we would just stand in an isle for 5 minutes running into things and taking videos.

We're so glad we get to have Baylie in our lives. She brightens our days and makes us smile just when we need it. Happy Birthday Baylie. We love you!

Girls Night Stuff

2010-03-12T13:03:00.005-07:00

Margo and I have been friends forever. We go way back. She married her sweetheart almost two years ago and he moved her to Provo so she could be closer to me! (I'm pretty sure proximity to me was the focal point in many of their decisions... right Margs?) Now they have decided to move all the way to California. =( We're trying to utilize our time wisely and spend as much time together as possible.

Last night we had Girls Night at my house. I made a delicious menu of appetizers (you can go HERE to get the recipes). Ever since we started our recipe blog I am kind of obsessed with trying new recipes and I LOVED having someone to try out all the food Jack refuses to eat. Everything turned out so yummy and fun! We ate till we were bursting and then spent the evening talking. We also fit a chick flick in- we went to the dollar theater to see Leap Year (so cute).

I love having forever friends. I love knowing that no matter how long we go without seeing each other or talking, we can still pick up right where we left off. I am going to miss this girl.

Ephraim Stuff

2010-03-07T21:58:00.005-07:00

I can't remember the last time Jack and I had been on a date. In the middle of the week Jack suggested we go somewhere on Saturday. I am all for getting out of town. We decided to head down to Ephraim. sigh. We love Ephraim. We go down there every once in a while just to slow down a little and visit our old stomping grounds. Jack claims we hating living in such a small town but every time we go down there I fall in love with it all over again.

We left Saturday afternoon after spending the morning with our adorable niece Kathryn. We may be biased but we're pretty sure she loves us the very most. Jack got her to smile and giggle SO much. Aw. We just love this girl.

After Adam and Angeline left we headed down to Ephraim. We stopped and ate at Fat Jack's Pizza. Their food is definitely worth the drive! (yes, we are aware the name was changed to Roy's Pizza... but it will always be Fat Jack's in our heart) We spent the next hour just driving around. Sitting in our old parking lots and remembering the times when we couldn't leave our drive way because farmers were using the roads to herd their sheep. The first Elders Quorum activity we went to and Jack insisted on wearing his ugly sweater. No wonder we had no friends. Playing volleyball with the only other married couple we knew. Running around the track at night. Renting at least 5 movies every weekend from Movie Gallery.

Life was good then.

Life is good now. I have an amazing husband who wants to hold my hand.

What more could a girl ask for.

New Blog Stuff

2010-03-01T05:00:00.001-07:00

It's FINALLY happening.

Better Than Burgers is up and running!

My Mom and I recently started our own recipe blog. We are SO excited about this new hobby.

Check it out at betterthanburgers.blogspot.com

We're having a GIVEAWAY right now. Loaded with lots of fun and fabulous recipes.

Add us to your Google Reader, your blog list or just your daily reading. You are sure to find something that anyone can cook!

Jazz Game Stuff

2010-02-25T14:17:00.005-07:00

For Jack's birthday I got him tickets to the Jazz/Bobcats game. I was so bummed that I spilled the beans about the game before his actual birthday but I was determined to have fun regardless.

Jack and I headed up to the game after he got off work and enjoyed the ride up. It's the first time we've seen each other for longer than 10 minutes at a time in almost a week. I miss that boy! We ate dinner at Chili's before the game and then headed in early. We got to watch the team warm up for a few minutes- It's always so surreal to me when I see them so close up. They're people too? Weird.

We eventually had to return to our seats for the actual game. We were so far up that it actually made me lightheaded and made my hands clam up because we were so high. I do not do heights! I'm pretty sure they send everyone who fails an IQ test to the upper bowl. We sat in a really interesting section. Apparently the basketball players hear and care about what the people sitting on the top row think. At least the people behind us sure thought so. I decided that I need to become rich so I never have to sit in the upper bowl again- at least not the top half!

We had so much fun though and making fun of the idiots around us added to the experience. I think giving Jack Birthday presents that I get to enjoy also is a fabulous idea!

Turning 26 Stuff

2010-02-23T21:05:00.009-07:00

Last weekend Jack turned 26. I know it's not super old but he's now closer to 30 then 20. Which is just weird. This year we decided to celebrate with friends so the night before Jack's birthday we went to Rodizio Grill- just the two of us. It's one of our very favorite places and we're so happy they built one in American Fork. Mmm...

Saturday Jack requested birthday breakfast so I got up and made pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, eggs and toast. We ate breakfast and opened presents. Jack got a Gift Certificate for a new video card, jazz tickets, a car phone charger and a basketball sleeve. I did SO well at keeping everything a surprise until the night before his birthday when I decided to show Jack my great new planner and for some reason I felt like I needed to show him all the stuff I had to do this week. My page opened to Wednesday's "Basketball Game". I suck at lying so he knew he was getting basketball tickets. Sad. He loved it though.

Jack had a church ball game Saturday afternoon so I tagged along for support. I forget how crazy some of the guys can get in those games. Jack's team lost in the end but I had so much fun watching. Bummer that I waited till the last game of the season to go root for my hubby.

We spent the afternoon at Best Buy picking out Jack's dream Video Card. I hate that guys always want boring stuff for gifts. He absolutely loved it though. He spent all afternoon installing it and trying out his games.

That evening we went to the Mayan Adventure with Sam and Tiffany and Higgs. For those of you who have never been it's a restaurant in Sandy that is themed and has cliff divers. It feels like you are walking into a ride at Disneyland. SO much fun. We hadn't been there in a long time and they had totally redone their menu. I was SO pleased with everything I thought our seats were amazing, my food was really good and we had great company. So much fun. I really wanna go again soon so if you've never been let's double date! (seriously!)

We polished off our night with Ice Cream cake at home. I've been making this for Jack's birthday every year since we got married. It's amazing and SO easy. (you'll have to wait for my recipe blog to come out before you can have the recipe...) It was a perfect birthday. Jack is amazing. I feel so lucky to be married to my very best friend. He truly is the very best part of me. I love you hunny! Happy Birthday.

Sister Stuff

2010-02-21T22:20:00.005-07:00

After I spent the long weekend at home with my family I brought my sister Kim back to Orem with me. She's moving out here in June to go to school so we decided she needed to look at housing and jobs. I absolutely love sister time. We spent the week shopping, talking, cooking and looking for houses/jobs.

We spent one afternoon watching chick flicks and crafting. So fun! Here's what we made up.

We drove ALL over Provo and Orem gathering job applications. She did end up with an interview by the time the week was over so I think it was a huge success. She also signed a contract for an apartment.

I love my sister. It was one of the best weeks I'd had in the longest time.
I can't wait for June so she can live here for reals!

Long Weekend Stuff

2010-02-15T10:08:00.004-07:00

I loved no school days when I was in school but now that I WORK at a school I love them even more! Last weekend we didn't have school on Friday so I ran off to spend the weekend with my family. I left Thursday afternoon and spent the entire time partying with my fam! It was Kimberly and Cameron's birthday weekend so we ate fabulous food and celebrated them.

Thursday we ate Seashells and Caesar Salad for Kim's birthday. We watched Madagascar 2 and laughed our heads off. (love that show!) Kim turned 18 this year. Crazy! I love that girl so much! She makes me laugh my head off and my problems don't seem so hard when I'm with her. She makes me forget about myself. I feel so lucky to have her as my sister and one of my best friends.

Friday I convinced my mom to let me help her clean out the storage room. Wow. I thought it might take us a few hours but I didn't realize it would take us a few hours to only do one section. We filled two cars to the brim with DI stuff and then another car full of stuff to give away. I love the feeling of de-junking. Especially when it's not my stuff and I have no emotional attachments.

Friday we also celebrated my Grandpa Weight's 70th Birthday. We all got together and had pizza and cake with the rest of my extended family. I feel so lucky to have the family that I do. They are the greatest. I loved being there for my Grandpa's birthday. Sometimes I feel so out of the loop living so far away and it was so nice to be there to celebrate. Love you Grandpa!

Saturday we headed to Altamont to watch Cameron at Region Wrestling. I suck at watching wrestling. It stresses me out SO bad. Those poor boys just beating each other up. But Cameron did amazing and I am so proud of him! He took 4th at Region which meant he got to go to State! I love watching my siblings do something they love. Especially when they are good at it.

Sunday we celebrated Kim and Cam's birthdays with a family party at my mom's. We ate Winger's Chicken wraps and played games and ate cake. I love having reasons to celebrate.

Monday was Cameron's official birthday but I wasn't able to stay that long. Cam is one of the best bro's a girl could ask for (I got lucky with 3 amazing brothers). I could sit and talk to him for hours. He is so fun and makes me feel so good about myself. I love that I still feel like my 16 year old brother is taking care of me. I feel so lucky to have him as my brother and one of my best friends.

I love weekends at home. I love that I have such a close family and feel lucky to call them all friends. Everyone needs weekends like that. Love you guys!

Year in Review Stuff

2010-01-01T22:29:00.005-07:00

2009 was hands down the worst year of my life.

I've never cried so much in my entire 23 years combined. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say

I'm seriously not exaggerating there.

While I don't believe there was a ultimate reason we had to endure so much

I am not above saying I learned something from it all.

This year I came to a complete understanding of how much my Heavenly Father loves me. What a comfort that has been. I've come to appreciate the atonement more than I can even express. My loving Heavenly Father sent His Son to not only die for my sins but suffer for my sorrows. On days when I feel like I can't go on I remember that He's been there. When nobody quite understands my pain I remember that He felt it. When I cry myself to sleep I remember that He ached and continues to ache for me. For this I am grateful.

Dear 2010, Be nice to me. I'm fragile.

Christmas Day Stuff

2009-12-29T09:25:00.005-07:00

Christmas Day starts early around here. No matter how hard I try to sleep in I am always up and at it before I should be! This year I woke up at 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep for the life of me (THAT IS EARLY PEOPLE) so I got up and showered and got ready for the day. If I didn't I would not be posting any pictures of me on Christmas!

Jack waited patiently and we finally got to opening presents about 7:30. This year we started (what I hope to be a continuing tradition) filling each other stockings with "coupons". I got some fabulous coupons for girls day with my mom, a clean house, a night off and 5 free hugs (inside joke.... modern family?) I love that we had to put thought into our stocking stuffers and spent absolutely nothing on them.

Jack got spoiled and received everything he needs to BBQ- which is really a present for me because it means I don't have to cook! He got a "Man"pron (apron), charcoal, lighter fluid, a cook book, utensils and a stove top grill. He also came away with some movies, calvin and hobbes books, hoodie, mic for his computer and headphones.

I got spoiled as well. I got an adorable apron from my mommers. She's so crafty, TV trays, movies, scrapbook stuff, an embossing tool, a robe, scarfs and boots. We had so much fun opening presents. Thanks everyone for spoiling us. We love you!

After opening presents the Wilkerson's always have a huge Christmas breakfast. It's one of my favorite traditions so we do it at our house too. We have Pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon and orange juice. SO amazing. I love it.

We lazed around the rest of the day- i slept and jack played with all his toys. We watched movies and lounged. Christmas night I always make a huge Christmas dinner. I make Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Rolls, Cranberry Sauce Stuffing, Corn and Yams. We topped it off with a homemade baked cheesecake with a raspberry sauce. Oh. My. Gosh. Everything was so amazing. I love Christmas Dinner. I made enough so we could have leftovers for days. And that is all we've eaten since Friday. Mmmm.... love it!

After we stuffed ourselves to brink capacity we snuggled on the couch and watched Fringe (one of our new fave shows) and fell asleep exhausted. Hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours!

Christmas Eve Stuff

2009-12-29T09:14:00.008-07:00

Some people think we are crazy for staying in Orem with just the two of us for Christmas. We LOVE it. It's so fun to be able to create your own traditions, sleep in your own bed, do whatever we want and not have to worry about driving in the snow. We still miss our families at Christmas time but we do love having our own celebrations.

Every Christmas Eve we make a feast of junk food. Nacho's and guacamole, chips and chili and cream cheese dip, bbq chicken wings and koolaid. We whip everything up and then snuggle on the couch and watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. So much fun.

After we have gorged ourselves with delicious food and laughed till our sides hurt we open our presents from Bernard. Every year he leaves us Christmas jammies that we get to open.

This year we got matching PJ's which I love. They are soft and ever so comfy.

After we open our PJ's we read the Christmas story from the scriptures and

then take turns filling stockings and stuffing presents under the tree.

It was an absolutely perfect Christmas Eve.

Bernard Stuff

2009-12-29T09:03:00.004-07:00

I couldn't catch up on Christmas without giving a shout out to our "Brownie" Bernard.

Santa drops Bernard off every Thanksgiving. He is sent here to make sure we are being good and helping each other. This year Bernard left us lots of chocolate and about every other day he'd drop off some cute gift with a cheesy saying or poem. He's so crafty.

We love having him visit our home every year and can't wait till we have

some kiddo's who will enjoy him just as much.

Lights Stuff

2009-12-29T08:54:00.005-07:00

This year we talked about going to Temple Square all winter long. Christmas was almost here and I was so sad we hadn't been. So on the day before Christmas Eve we decided to make the trek. We drove to Sandy and rode the tracks so we could avoid parking. It was so much fun.

Absolutely perfect. It was snowing and freezing and the lights were beautiful. We took our time and listened to the choirs singing, watched a little of the nativity and walked around holding hands. I love going with a big group but it was fun going with just the two of us.

I love visiting temple square- it's so fun going back to where we began 4 years ago.

Decoration stuff

2009-12-29T08:37:00.006-07:00

I have not blogged in so long! I really do love blogging and I love reading every one's blogs. So this is one of my New Year goals. Hopefully you'll see a little more of me on here. First I need to get caught up on our Christmas this year.

My mom goes all out for Christmas. It's the biggest holiday at our house and we celebrate it forever! She always decorates the ENTIRE house. I think she had 4 Christmas trees this year and there is garland and bows in every corner. I LOVE IT! I'm so happy she passed on that trait. I love decorating for Christmas. It's my favorite.

Here's our front door. This year I made my own wreath. I thought it turned out classy and perfect for what I wanted. I got the wreath at savers and just tore everything off it

and found these cute ornaments that just clip on. Fabulous.

Then you walk in and see our Christmas tree. I loved our tree this year. We always get a real one and this year was no exception. It keeps my house smelling like Christmas all month long.

I love it.

Last year my grandma gave me the Willow Tree Nativity. It's one of my favorite pieces to pull out. I just love the simple classic look that adds so much to our Christmas spirit.

This was my first nativity that my mom gave me when I got married. I absolutely love it. We had it in our home growing up and I love having it in my home now.

So there you have it. Those are my Christmas decorations. Of course there is garland and bows all around the room and stuck in every corner. But I'll spare you those pics. Lucky!

Holly Fair Stuff

2009-11-05T22:56:00.006-07:00

A few months ago I convinced my mom to do the Holly Fair with me this year.

We're down to the wire- we only have a few days until the fair. This is what I've been spending every spare second of every day doing.

Come see us November 13-14th at the UBTA building in Roosevelt. Doors open at 10am on November 13th. We would LOVE to see you there!

Halloween Stuff

2009-11-05T22:45:00.009-07:00

This year we decided to go back to Duchesne for Halloween. My brother Todd and his wife Dana were having a party and we wanted to see my family. I dressed up like a Queen Bee and Jack dressed up like Charlie Kelley from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. (We have a crude sense of humor. Which makes it okay for us to watch that show. But please

do not watch it and be offended that I suggested it.....)

We had so much fun! Usually we spend our Halloween in our PJ's ignoring the trick or treaters so it was nice to get out and do something.

Changing Stuff

2009-11-01T22:02:00.002-07:00

It's officially Fall.

The leaves are red.

There's a cold nip in the air.

And change is everywhere.

It's so refreshing to know that change is constant.

Life decided to throw some big changes at me lately. I was released from my calling as the Sunbeam teacher in our primary and called to serve as the Young Women Secretary. If that's not change I don't know what is. I've only served in the primary before so having a calling like this is a huge adjustment. I spent a good chunk of my time working on young women's stuff or thinking about how I should be working on young women's stuff (usually the latter). I absolutely love it though. The girls in our ward are amazing and I feel so blessed to have them!

I quit my job at Doug Smith Autoplex back in July. Being a stay at home wife was SO great. Seriously. My house was clean. There was food on the table. I was able to accomplish so many errands during the day. And I still managed to have time to kick back and relax. I loved it. Then life took a curve ball and I had to go back to work. After many weeks of searching I was able to score a job at an Elementary school right by my house. It is- hands down- the best job. I absolutely love it. I'm able to work part time and still make good money. I feel like it is a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. I'm finally able to work at a job that I can enjoy.

Jack's life hasn't taken much change lately. But he WANTS it to change. So that's pretty much the same right? Although he is writing a sweet NBA blog that is so clever and amazing that you all should check out. jacksfakemail.blogspot.com and feel free to click on the ads. That's how we pay our bills these days.

Change is constant.

Nothing stays the same.

And I am so thankful for that.

Anniversary Stuff

2009-11-01T21:11:00.004-07:00

This year Jack and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary. That seems like forever. I'm always in charge of planning our anniversary celebration and this year we chose to stay in Orem. We went to dinner at our VERY favorite steak house Ruby River for dinner. It's so delicious. I look forward to special occasions so we have a reason to splurge. After dinner we went to the Hale Centre Theater and watched Little Shop of Horrors. It was so much fun. What a great way to celebrate.

I'm so very grateful to have Jack. I can't think of another person I'd rather spend the rest of eternity with. He's the one I want to tell my stories to. He's the one I want to hold me when I cry. He's the one I want to see every morning when I wake up and the one I want to tuck me in when I fall asleep. He's my everything and I can't imagine my life without him. Happy Anniversary babe. 4 down forever to go.

True Love Stuff

2009-10-20T16:44:00.004-06:00

This is Jack writing a secret blog posting that Dayna does not know about. Husbands take note: wives love it when you sneak behind their backs. They just eat it up.

Today is our fourth wedding Anniversary. It really does not seem like a long time. Probably because time flies when we're together. Also because at our age, Dayna and I spend most of our time either sleeping in rocking chairs or complaining about young people; with their compact disc players and fancy spiked hair.

I just wanted to let all of you out there in the blogosphere know what an incredible person I snagged four years ago. She's talented in the kitchen, the craftroom, the classroom and the bedroom. She's funny as crap, she's passionate and very compassionate. She's virtuous and is constantly striving to become a better person.

Dayna is the person we would all want in a spouse, a friend or a mother. She is all I have ever wanted, and although I make the widow and her mite look arrogant with my poorness, I never feel like I go without.

I love you more than Star Wars, LeBron James and Bacon, hun. I love you more than anything.

Now that's impressive.

Labor Day Stuff

2009-09-11T10:24:00.005-06:00

On Labor Day we met up with our friends David, Kristin and Baylie for lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. This little one kept us entertained the whole time. She's such a doll and I just love her! (we love you too David and Kristin).

Labor day night Sam and Tiffany came over to play cards. I am addicted to cards these days. There aren't many games you can play with just two people so I only get to play when I convince Jack to invite friends over. We filled up on chips and dip and koolaid and then once the fun was over and everyone left Jack threw up all over in my kitchen garbage. Gross! So I spent the next few days taking care of my sick hubby.

I know your jealous of my super fun life! =)

I am so blessed to have friends and family that live so close.

Bridal Veils Stuff

2009-09-11T10:15:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago Jack and I decided to take advantage of an afternoon off work and enjoy some outdoors. We packed a lunch and headed up to Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon.

I'm so grateful that fall is finally here. The changing leaves and nip in the air reminds me that no matter what-things do change. Change is constant. I need that.

Our Baby Stuff

2009-08-23T21:31:00.008-06:00

There's been a lot of stress, worry and pain for us in the past few months. Even though the end result wasn't what we always thought it would be, it doesn't change the fact that we spent the last nine months loving Charlie. I didn't keep a very good journal through this all and there are a few moments I want to remember.

Right after we found out we were going to be parents I went shopping and bought my mom her first Grandma item. She was so excited. She kept it by the computer for a long time and every time we visited I was reminded how excited she was for this little boy. She's going to be such a great grandma one day.

Jack and I were SO excited to find out the gender of the baby. We were both sure it was a boy. It always felt like a boy. We were able to be there for the first ultra sound. Afterwards we went straight to Burlington Coat Factory (my favorite baby section out of any store) and looked at all their adorable boy stuff. We were so excited to dress him in little suits. Those were always our favorite.

The first week of July I finally convinced Jack to help me set up the nursery. I had labored many hours planning, sewing, painting and getting everything ready. The room turned out amazing. I was so happy with the end result. As soon as everything was set up it started smelling like baby. To this day I still keep the door shut so the smell stays the same.

It was important to me that we bring our baby home in a blanket that we picked out together and that I sewed. I wanted the first memories we had of him to be surrounded by items directly from us. Sometimes I would go into his room and hold his blankets like little babies and imagine what he would look like and smell like.

All the Aunts on my mom's side of the family got together and threw me a baby shower. It was amazing. I received everything one could ever need to make mommy and baby BOTH happy. Every one of them were so supportive of our situation. I appreciated everything they did so much. Thanks you guys!

Most of all I want to remember how happy we were. Everything about becoming parents was exciting to us. Seeing a baby at church or in the mall would make us both giddy with anticipation. We had so much fun picking out names, decorating, getting ready and planning our forever family. I don't ever want to forget the little boy who holds our hearts forever.

Charlie Stuff

2009-08-23T20:43:00.003-06:00

Today we should have brought our baby home. We should be exhausted. We should be covered in spit up. We should have changed a record breaking amount of diapers. I should have worried that I wasn't being a good enough mom.

Instead we stayed in bed as long as we could. I wore my pajamas all day and didn't put on any makeup. I sat on the couch and watched TV while Jack played video games. Jack and I sat on our bed and talked and laughed until I remembered I shouldn't be happy and broke down in sobs. Today I wondered if I would ever be a mom.

Last Tuesday we got a call. We were supposed to meet our birthmom and her counselor in American Fork. It was August 18th. The due date of our baby. I figured they wanted to meet to go over any last minute questions and make sure we were all on the same page. Jack and I sat in a room with our birthmom and her mom. We sat 1 foot away from her as she told us she changed her mind, she was keeping our baby.

Our baby had a name. Our baby had a nursery. He had a closet full of clothes/toys/diapers/etc. He had extended family who were all SO excited to meet him. He had a future. A future we had spent the last nine months planning. He was going to be happy. We were all going to be happy.

The counselor asked Jack and I if we had anything we wanted to say or talk about. We didn't say much, and the counselor tried to fill in the silence by offering us a sales pitch for her adoption agency service. Jack told her it was too soon, and that we didn't want another baby; we had one with a name, a room and loving parents, and another one wouldn't have been ours.

We left the room after that and broke down. We left one of our cars in American Fork and drove together. We drove to a park we had never been to in Orem and sobbed under a street lamp. We stayed there for hours, talking about how we felt and crying. Our insides ached and they still do.

We've talked a lot since, but the ache seems to linger. It's not something that most people can understand or explain-- to be on the precipice of escaping infertility's clutches, only to be sucked back to the very bottom based on decisions that were never in your control.

Jack and I have learned that things don't always happen for a reason. A lot of people believe that: we don't. Sometimes things happen not because it's God's plan, but because God's plan allows people to make choices for themselves. Choices that have a lasting effect and can ruin people's lives.

We don't know the long lasting effects of this experience. We don't know if we'll be wiser, bitter, shut off or more open, but the pain and suffering are very real and we can't imagine it ever being gone.

We feel like our baby has died. The child in our hearts no longer exists. We are in mourning. We have constant reminders all over our house of a life that was denied us. We cry over memories that don't exist because we never had the chance to make them. But they are real. Our baby was real. Our pain is real.

Despite this pain we're experiencing we feel so very blessed to have such loving friends and family. We've received emails, facebook comments, phone calls and gifts from people who love us. It means more than we can say to know that we are loved and cared for and this is not a burden we have to carry ourselves. Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts.

Pizzario Stuff

2009-08-09T21:05:00.004-06:00

I'm LOVING the retired life. Some days I wonder how I ever managed to cook and clean and work a full time job. That's hard stuff. I love getting everything done by the time Jack gets home so we can relax and have fun together at night. We've been using our imagination to think of fun things to do together and not break the bank.

Last week we had a "Pizzario Party" Homemade Pizza's and a game of Mario Party on the Wii. Fun!

Echo Lake Stuff

2009-08-03T00:12:00.010-06:00

Jack and I need a vacation about once a week. I can't even tell you how many times I plan elaborate get aways in my head only to have the real world crush them to smithereens. As a result we usually get one good vacation a year. (we totally deserve more) This year we jumped on the bandwagon and headed to Echo Lake, Montana to spend the week at the Ady Grandparents cabin. Jack was more excited for this trip than he is for Christmas. He spent many a summers lazing around on this lake and enjoying family fun. It had been 8 long years since he was able to go back and he definitely thought it was time.

We started our trip off at 5pm on Tuesday. We prefer to drive all night. And drive all night we did. After a quick stop for a few Zzz's we arrived at the cabin around 6am Wednesday morning. We woke up everyone and made them welcome us. Grandma fussed over us like only a grandma can. Trying to situate us on her nice couches and covering us with blankets and pillows. I love having someone look after me. We were too excited to sleep so Jack took me on a tour of the grounds. After and early breakfast we all changed into our swimsuits and headed for the lake. This would be the ritual for the next 4 days.

We spent most of our time tubing, skiing, surfing, swimming and just leisurely riding on the boat. We had SO much fun. We got to see Jack's cousins and aunt and uncle whom we haven't seen since our wedding and catch up with them. It was nice to be on vacation surrounded by family.

Jacks way braver than me when it comes to water sports. I like to stick to what I know and only went tubing but Jack got up on the surf board and went skiing a bunch of times. Maybe next year I'll be brave.

Sam tried out the parasail that Uncle John brought. Basically you tie yourself up to the boat, the boat guns it, you run, and pray the wind catches the parachute and you end up in the air instead of face planting it in the water. I'm not sure which would be worse though. It sounded fun in theory but once we saw how high Sam got up we weren't sure we were up for that. Unfortunately the parachute ripped after Sam went so Jack and I didn't even have the opportunity to chicken out.

We spent our nights playing cards and games and just visiting with family. I rock my socks off at Rook by the way. Especially when Doug and I are on a team and Grandma sits over my shoulder and tells me what to play. Best. Rook. Player. Ever.

The week went by way too fast. Now we are back to real life and counting down the days till we can go back next year. Farewell Vacation. See you soon!

Room Stuff

2009-07-26T20:31:00.009-06:00

I've been so excited to decorate Charlie's room. Ever since we found out we were getting a boy I've been planning and sewing and looking for good deals everywhere. I finally finished the final product a few weeks ago and I am beyond excited about it. It turned out exactly the way I wanted. Now we just need our little munchkin to come use it!

I also need to send out a huge thanks to my mom who helped

with all the sewing and planning. And Jack for being such a great guy and helping set everything up.

Baby Stuff

2009-07-26T20:14:00.006-06:00

It's been a long year for us. Many of you know the ups and downs we've dealt with trying to start our family. In December of last year we received the best Christmas present we could ever ask for. We found out we were going to be parents. Traditional is so not our style. Heavenly Father is sending us our baby through an amazing girl we know and love. I'm so very grateful for the blessing of adoption.

It's be a very long/emotional/exciting/crazy year. We were lucky enough to be involved since the beginning of her pregnancy. Although we kept it to ourselves for the most part we were able to spend the time preparing for our family like any other couple would. We went to doctor appointments, we were there when we found out we were getting a BOY, we spent hours browsing the baby section of every store and we stressed and worried over every detail.

Now the long wait is drawing to a close. On August 6th she is scheduled for her last ultrasound. The doctors say more than likely she will need a c-section and they'll let us know then when we can expect our baby. We're beyond ecstatic and can hardly wait for our bundle of joy.

Here's a sneak peak of our little Charlie.

Open House Stuff

2009-07-26T13:35:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I met up with my family (minus Jack and Erik- sad we missed you guys) in Salt Lake and we visited the Oquirh Mountain temple. It was such a gorgeous temple. I feel so lucky to be able to enjoy the blessings that the temple brings into my family. I'm so grateful that I was able to be sealed to my parents for time and all eternity and to return and be sealed to my sweetheart almost 4 years ago.

4th of July Stuff

2009-07-26T13:27:00.008-06:00

This year Jack had to work on the 4th of July so I met up with my mom and sisters/sister in law in Price and went to the wave pool. We had SO much fun. I picked up Cafe Rio before I left provo and we had lunch before we went swimming. Love Cafe Rio.

The pool was surprisingly empty for the 4th of July-so we got to enjoy all the waves and chatting without fighting all the little kids. It was so much fun to just laugh and let go wit

h the girls for the day. Most of our girl time is spent shopping so it was fun to do something we would all remember.

Thanks for a great day girls!

After I got home Jack and I met up with Sam and Tiffany to watch Fireworks. Jack and I have been married 4 years and never watched fireworks. We drove up on a hill above BYU and watched the stadium of fire light off. It was great.

Manti Pageant Stuff

2009-07-26T13:16:00.005-06:00

Jack and I lived in Ephraim for 2 years and never made it down to the Manti Pageant. Every summer we talk about going and then we never make it. This year after a couple attempts we finally made it down there on the last night.

Every time we go to Ephraim we have to drive by all our old houses and reminice about the good old days. Days when we could live in a 3 bed 2 bath apartment for less than 500 dollars (and that included utilities) ah. Good times.

We drove around town for a while and stopped at Fat Jacks pizza for our favorite pizza and fat sticks. Mmm.... They had changed their name since we had been there last, which was kinda sad.

After dinner and town tour we headed to manti to see the pageant. It had been a long time since I'd seen it and it was Jack's first time. We had great seats and had a lot of fun eating junk food and watching the pageant. Good times.

Birthday Stuff

2009-06-20T12:20:00.018-06:00

I've had a birthday

shout hooray!

A few weeks ago I turned a whopping 23 years old. Jack is such a sweetheart and knows how I like to make holidays special. He always goes all out for my birthday and I LOVE IT!

After we both got off work we went to one of my very favorite restaurants- Ruby River Steakhouse. It's some of the best food I have ever tasted and hands down the best steak I've ever had. I love their Lettuce Wedge and Jacketed Loaded Baked Potato. Amazing. I craved this food for weeks before my birthday and my mouth waters just remembering it. Yum!

After we ate dinner we wandered over to the movie theater and saw the new Disney movie UP. It was SO cute. Jack and I both spent a good portion of the show crying. It hit a tender spot for us, and it was SO sad. Seriously. I loved it. Amazing.

After a quick trip to walmart we headed home to eat birthday cake. I am loving Oreo brand Oreo Ice Cream. Seriously the best. So of course that's what I used for my cake. I made an Oreo crust and filled it with the Oreo ice cream- let it freeze for 2 days and then topped it off with magic shell and whipped cream. Oh. My. Gosh. It was amazing. It might be the staple birthday cake at our house from now on.

Jack bought me a season of House on DVD. We LOVE that show and it's the birthday present that keeps giving. We've been watching an episode at night before bed and I just love it.

It was practically the best 23rd birthday I've ever had.

Hot Dog Stuff

2009-06-20T11:08:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago Jack and I decided it would be super fun to go up the canyon and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. We recruited Sam and Tiffany to join the fun and we headed off to Payson Canyon. We feel cool knowing of cool spots besides Provo Canyon. We're practically locals now.

Prior to our trip I decided to buy roasting sticks at the dollar store. Because Jack refused to enter the store with me I allowed myself to be convinced that Kabob sticks would totally work for our big fire. HAHA Not so. Everyone laughed at me, then judged me, and then Tiffany had to come up with a way better solution by tying our kabob sticks onto regular sticks. Isn't she the best?

We are loving summer weekend activities. Aren't they just the best.

Homedizio Stuff

2009-05-25T22:22:00.004-06:00

Jack and I needed something to do for Memorial Day. I really wanted to do something outside in the heat and water but we realized everything would be packed so Jack came up with an even better idea.

One of our favorite places to eat is Rodizio Grill in Salt Lake. OH MY GOSH it's amazing. We love it. But because it costs over 50 bucks for just the two of us to eat we don't get it very often.

Yesterday we went grocery shopping and picked up a bunch of different cuts of meat and decided to make our own. We had ribs, steak, chicken and pork all prepared differently and grilled outside. Jack did such an amazing job. It was all SO good. We call it Homedizio.

We ate our delicious meal while watching a movie and finished with smores over the oven. Great night. Hope you all had a great Memorial Day too.

Memorial Day Stuff

2009-05-25T22:20:00.008-06:00

This year I decided to head back to Duchesne for Memorial Day weekend. Jack had to work and my mom and I wanted to get some serious crafting done (I'll share in a later post when I get everything done). I braved the traffic on Friday night along with every camper, truck and cop in Utah and headed towards the Basin.

Lucky for me I got to be there for Halle's Dance recital. My amazing Sister-in-law Dana has her own dance studio in Duchesne. She does SUCH an amazing job and has so many girls already (but she would LOVE to teach yours as well). I got to be there to see all her hard work (and Halle's- yay Halle) Doesn't Halle just look gorgeous in these pictures? She's so grown up. Weird.

I had so much fun with my family. We watched movies, talked, sewed (ALL DAY) ate delicious food. It was great. I love weekends home with my family. I get to catch up with the people I love most and I get to go back to being a kid again. No problems, no worries. Even if it is just for a weekend.

Starting Summer Stuff

2009-05-25T22:18:00.007-06:00

A few weekends ago Jack and I decided to take advantage of this gorgeous summery weather we've been getting and head up the canyon for a BBQ. I researched all sorts of sweet spots we could go and I finally settled on a lake up Payson Canyon. It had a great spot for BBQing and we could lay out and tan and even swim if we wanted. I was SO excited. We headed up the canyon and got all the way to the top (it's really windey- not windy) only to discover that the road to the lake is closed until Memorial Day. We were bummed but ended up finding a sweet place to BBQ along a river.

Jack cooked Hamburgers while I killed bugs with matches. Good times. It was so much fun. I love summer saturday activities! And that was probably one of our last. =( Jack's work schedule got changed so he now works saturdays instead of sundays. Bummer.

Mothers Day Stuff

2009-05-11T12:13:00.013-06:00

I know it's already WAY past Mothers Day- but we've had camera issues and i'm just now getting to upload my photos. So now that you already read aout everyone else's days you can read about mine too!

It's been years since I've been able to spend the day with my mom on mothers day so I was so excited when it worked out that I could spend the entire day at home with my family. I drove out early on Sunday morning and went to church with my mom. I got to help in her primary class. Although I was looking forward to a break from the 10 three year olds I currently teach in my ward being surrounded by other people's primary kids made me miss mine. As hectic as Sundays can be I love those little kids!

After church Todd and Dana and Erik came over and we all cooked dinner for my mom. We made grilled chicken, grilled pineapple, grilled asparagus (are you catching a pattern here) baked potatoes, salads, jello, rolls, and fruit pizza. It was divine! It was a gorgeous day so we set the tables in our yard and enjoyed each others company. It was so nice to have everyone home and happy.

My mom was spoiled with presents from all of us. Dad and Cameron even gave her a certificate saying they were going to make her a walk in closet. I know she's been looking forward to that for months! It was so much fun. We sat around and took tons of pictures and laid on the grass talking. Absolutely perfect.

I am so grateful for my mom. She is my very best friend (except the hubby who without a doubt my very very best friend) and I don't know what I would do without her. Thanks so much for being a great mom and for sacrificing so much of yourself to make us happy.

I love you so much mom!

~Happy Mothers Day~

Halle Stuff

2009-05-09T20:28:00.003-06:00

12 years ago Halle was born into our family. Most of the kids were old enough to enjoy her being a baby. As the result she was/is spoiled rotten! But we love her SO much. She is the sweet spirit our family needed. I love her for so many reasons! Thanks for being such a special sister and one of my best friends!

Halle is the sweetest person I know. Seriously. She is continually thinking of others and makes everyone around her feel special.

Halle is an amazing artist. When Jack and I got married she drew us a picture of us on our wedding day. It was amazing. She framed it and we've had it hanging in our bedroom in every house we've lived in.

Halle is such a good sport. Being the youngest of 6 kids she pretty much has to be to survive. =) She's had so many nicknames it's hard to keep track of them all. Jack and I refer to her as Lucious (because that's what we were calling her when I left the house). Kim and I sing to her whenever she gets grouchy... Lucious we love you, that's all we have to offer, Lucious we need you, please don't turn us away. It drives her nuts.

Halle is so fun to be with. She's come and stayed with us many times since we've been married. We've been able to do such fun things and make so many memories. She really is one of my best friends.

Happy Birthday Halle

We love you so much!

Day Off

2009-05-03T16:12:00.004-06:00

My mom seems to think you need a reason to play hookie from work. I say you need more reasons to go to work. It seems like a play hookie a lot. I don't. Only when I REALLY need a break. Which happens to be a lot.

On Wednesday I woke up and had no desire to go to work. I layed in bed and thought of all the fun things we could do if we stayed home. We both called in sick and spent the day with each other.

We spend the day lounging and having fun. Jack took me to lunch at Apollo Burger. By far our favorite burgers in Utah County. We absolutely LOVE them. We went to the library to rent Season 2 of Heroes. We walked around the mall for a while and found a killer deal on Calvin and Hobbes books. And we watched Haunting in Conneticut in a theater we had all to ourselves. We finished the night eating Orange Chicken at our favorite local chinese restaurant, China Garden, getting shakes at Dairy Queen and snuggling in bed watching Heroes.

It's so hard to go to work after days like that.

Cameron Weekend Stuff

2009-05-03T16:00:00.007-06:00

Last weekend my brother came to stay with us for a couple of days. We had SO much fun. Even though they only live a few hours away I feel like I never see them. It was so nice to just spend a couple days with Cameron.

I had to work on Friday so Jack and Cameron hung out the whole day. They hiked up to the Y and went man shopping (which includes stores like Lowe's and Sportsman's Warehouse... sad huh?) They both said they had a good time. When I got home from work that night we made junk food and started watching season 1 of Heroes. Watching TV shows on DVD make me happy.

Saturday we spent a lot of time watching Heroes and then we all went to the nickel arcade. We become obsessed with collecting tickets. It was awsome. We earned eneough for Cameron to get this killer umbrella hat. We're a little concerned my dad will find it and fall in love with it. He has an odd attraction to ugly hats.

I was so sad to send him back home.

Paint Stuff

2009-05-03T15:53:00.004-06:00

I am totally in love with spray paint. If I were Oprah I would definately give it away in my favorite things episode. I paint everything that comes through my door. I've painted our computer desk, my movie shelf, shelf decor, drawers, etc. I LOVE it.

A couple weeks ago Jack and I found this killer deal at the DI. It was brown and gross but I saw it's potential. We finally got around to painting it. Actually Jack did this one. Credit given. I should have taken a picture of the "before" so you knew how much better it looked but here's what it looks like now.

Nice Saturday project eh?

Crafty Stuff

2009-05-03T15:45:00.003-06:00

It has been SO long since I posted. We had some camera issues but it looks like all that is resolved and now I can successfully post pictures. Hooray!

Can you believe it's already May? This year has just flown by. We've been staying busy with work and play. Not much else goes on around here. Sometimes I feel like we're married to our jobs- and we don't even like them that much. But that's always the answer when people want to know "what's up". So there you have it.

BUT- on the rare occasion that I find myself away from work and bored I have been doing a little of this.....

And a little of this...

I love crafting. Thank you for that gift mama.

New Recipe Stuff

2009-04-09T22:25:00.002-06:00

Well Peeps, I tried a new recipe. This was featured on Good Things Utah a few weeks ago so I thought I'd give them a try. It's all about the chicken in this one. The marinade you soak the chicken in gives it such a distinct flavor. Jack absolutely loved it. We strained all the green chili's out of the sauce- cuz seriously, they are gross. But that's the only change we made. So from our family to yours I give you.....

Honey Lime Chicken Enchaladas

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 large limes)
2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon chili powder
2 large cloves of garlic, ﬁnely minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts), cooked and shredded
12 corn tortillas
2 cups of Mexican cheese blend, shredded (1 small bag usually is 2 cups)
1 14-oz can of green enchilada sauce (mild or medium, to your taste)
1/2 to 3/4 cup of heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cooked and shredded chicken in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In a small bowl, place the honey, lime juice, chili powder and minced garlic or garlic powder. Whisk together thoroughly to combine. Pour this mixture over the chicken and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to marinate while you prepare the tortillas, 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, in the refrigerator.

Heat a large griddle till a drop of water skitters across (about 350 degrees F). Spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray or a oil it with a little bit of canola oil in between each round of tortillas. Heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side till warm and ﬂexible and some golden brown spots have appeared. Remove the tortillas from the griddle and keep them between a couple of paper towels until ready to use. Spray the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the enchilada sauce and the heavy cream. Spread about 1/2 cup of the mixture in the bottom of the oiled baking dish. Add a large spoonful (about 2 tablespoons) of the chicken mixture to the center of each tortilla in a line. Cover the chicken with a large tablespoon (or big pinch) of cheese, then roll the tortilla up from one side to make a rolled enchilada - it will be more of an over lap on the seam side that rolled tightly.

Place the enchilada seam side down in the baking dish starting at one end with the long edge parallel to the longest side of the pan so that you end up with two columns of six enchiladas each. Repeat with the remaining chicken, cheese and tortillas. You will use about 1 1/2 cups of the cheese for the ﬁlling and set the remainder aside for topping the enchiladas in the pan. Add the remaining marinade mixture to the enchilada sauce and cream mixture, if desired. Pour this mixture over the top of all the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake the enchiladas for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly and starting to brown on top.

Todd Stuff

2009-04-08T14:37:00.006-06:00

When I was exactly 22 months old my mom brought me a toy from the hospital. At least I thought he was my toy. Turns out his name was Todd and people frown on dragging infants around the house by one arm... who would have thought? 21 years later we're both grown with families of our own and we're still the best of friends.

Dear Toddy,

Remember when... we used to make forts on the wooden bunk beds and then we'd spend hours and hours playing. For some reason our forts were so much cooler than the average persons' forts. You were so fun to play with.

Remember when... we told Mom Erik peed his pants (he was little) and so she made him wear a diaper and drink from a bottle. Then we cried because we felt SO bad. Also remember how we tease Erik about it now and he tries to convince us he was like 2 years old but really he was like 7 and we point our fingers and laugh at him SO hard.

Remember when... you used to play barbies with me and you would ALWAYS name your people Thomas or Robert or Thomasina or Roberta. You used to say you were going to name all your kids in that pattern. I loved that you played with me.

Remember when... we used to stay up so late talking about everything and mom would come up and make us go to sleep. Those nights with you and Erik were some of my favorite. I love talking to you.

Remember when... you played basketball and I would sit on the sidelines and scream at the refs. I really was your biggest fan you know.

Remember when... you and Margo went on a triple date with me and Jason and Hailey and Josh. How cool is it that we could double date together. We had so much fun- it was like we were just hanging out as friends instead of siblings.

Remember when... you came and layed on my bed right before I left for college and told me you loved me and how much you would miss me. I gave you a hug and we cried.

Remember when... you got married and I gave you your first "honeymoon" items. I am THE coolest big sister in the world.

Remember when... you turned 21 and I wrote an awesome blog post about how much fun we have together? I'm cool like that.

I love you Toddy! Have a fabulous birthday!

Price Stuff

2009-04-05T10:45:00.009-06:00

Jack and I decided that we're going to spend our weekends touring the most random towns in Utah. The only rules of the game are that we have to do something that is unique to this town and we have to eat at the hole in the wall restaurants that we couldn't find anywhere else. This last weekend we found ourselves in Price, Utah.

Upon arriving in Price we drove to Big Moe's Eatery and Bakery. How awesome is that?

Our waitress was a middle aged mom wearing sweat pants and flip flops-she

was such a chatty woman. I loved hearing her talk to the people at the tables. It made me miss home where everyone knows everyone and life runs a little slower. I thought the food was great-my hamburger was covered in avocado and bacon and it was SO good. Jack's was covered

in mustard and he was not impressed but it was the ambiance we were looking for so I think we hit the nail on the head.

After lunch we spent a little while shopping at the local Walmart and DI. Fun right? But it's our duty to experience all that Price has for us... unfortunately that was all it had. Once our food had digested and we'd spent a sufficient amount of money we went over to the Wave Pool. We used to go to the wave pool for young women's activities but Jack had never been. The wave machine was broken so

it was only producing small waves but it was still fun.

When we were done swimming we headed over to Sheralds Burger Bar to eat shakes in the snow. (someone forgot to tell mother nature it was APRIL) How awesomely ghetto does our weekend sound? Don't be jealous. I just gave you our itinerary so you can do it too! Lucky!

Zoo stuff

2009-03-29T14:48:00.007-06:00

This weekend Jack and I wanted to get out and do something fun. Jack came up with the zoo idea. We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Salt Lake early in the morning so we could avoid the crowds. The weather was supposed to be nice (57ish... which is nice compared to what we've been getting) so I dawned shorts and flip flops, forgetting the zoo is practically in the mountains. There was still snow on the ground and everyone kept looking at me like I was nuts. It wasn't too cold though- I was fine.

We had SO much fun. I hadn't been to the zoo since before I was married and Jac

k had never been to the Hogle Zoo so it was a first for us in our marriage. We got there at the perfect time. There was hardly anyone there. I love being able to watch the monkeys in

the monkey house without any little kids screaming and crowding the windows. So great!

Jack loves monkeys so we spent a lot of time with them. If anyone want's to gift us a monkey we are totally okay with that.

After the zoo we went downtown and had a picnic lunch at a park. Knowing that nothing was waiting for us at home we decided to spend the rest of the day in salt lake. We walked around a couple stores and then we went to a Nickle Arcade. It's so much fun to get to be a kid for a day. Jack and I rock at Dance Dance Revolution! And I even gave Jack a run for his money at Street Fighter 2. (sheer luck, but still)

Our friend Higgs treated us to dinner at Rodizio Grill. Thanks Higgs! Such delicious food. Eventually we had to go home, but all in all it was such a great day. I need more weekends like that!

Give away stuff

2009-03-27T09:07:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone. Those of you who know me really well know that I do NOTHING at work. It leaves me plenty of time to blog stalk. And blog stalk I do. I found a bunch of long lost cousins and it turns out that one of them is pretty talented- who'd of thought. She's having a give away for the most adorable hats! Everyone should run over and check it out. Even if you don't win the giveaway you could still purchase something adorable for you or your kids. It's for a good cause.

To qualify for this giveaway, you must:

1. Go to http://wilkersonivffund.blogspot.com/2009/03/giveaway.html
1. Comment on the post so Lyndee can visit your blog to see if you fulfilled the requirements!
2. Copy and paste this post into a post on your blog.
3. Posts and comments must be received and submitted by April 10, 2009.

If you meet these requirements, your name will be entered into a drawing for a FREE hat of your choice! You pick the style, you pick the color!

Thank you to everyone for participating and for helping the Wilkerson Family!http://wilkersonivffund.blogspot.com/2009/03/giveaway.html

BBQing Stuff

2009-03-22T18:12:00.005-06:00

Last Christmas my mom gave us a Charcoal BBQer. Jack LOVES to BBQ so this was the perfect present. Unfortunately we live in Utah and they frown on balancing your flaming fire BBQ on top of 2 feet of snow. For his birthday all Jack asked for was BBQ stuff. So he got some tongs, spatulla, platter and a meat tenderizer. He's been waiting so patiently for the snow to melt so we could try out all our sweet stuff. This weekend was the perfect opportunity. It was 68 degrees and beautiful.

We bought New York steaks at REAMS for a killer price and Jack treated them like his little babies. He seasoned them to perfection and delicatley tenderized them to perfection. They were SO good. Like beyond amazing. I threw in some potatoe skins and macaroni salad and we had ourselves a BBQ.

Reams Stuff

2009-03-22T17:40:00.004-06:00

The following is a cameo from super awesome blogger Jack Ady, who also happened to be in the Kitchen when I started this post.

There are a few things in the world that will force the soundest minds to snap. For some, it could be migraine headaches. Others may find grinding background noises push them over the brink and into the abyss of insanity.

For me, it's Walmart.

Why you ask? How much space do I have to answer? First, every person in the world wakes up and thinks, hey I bet I could go to Walmart right when (insert your name here) goes and let my kids bite strangers while they're there. The scary truth is that they're right; they'll bite until they break the skin.

Walmart is constantly full. The shelves are dirty and understocked. The checkouts are understaffed with eternally recovering crystal meth addicts who are this-close to learning to read. Still, due to Walmart's ability to crush any other competitor with their evil empire powers, everyone will continue shopping there despite the cheap products, bad service and terrible employee hygiene.

That was why this Saturday was a breath of fresh air. After deciding to cook a meal, I went through the four steps of going to Walmart: denial, shouting, feverish sobbing
and finally a small coma.

This is a young woman shortly after shopping at the Orem Walmart.

But we wanted to buy some steaks for BBQing, since my great wife bought me a meat tenderizer for my birthday last month and I had yet to try it. We Googled Orem looking for a butcher or a special meat shop. We found Reams.

Convinced that we would still need to go to Walmart, we drove to Provo to get our cheap meat at Reams. Upon arriving, I noticed a few things. First, no one bit me the whole time. Not even a nibble. Next, the floor was clean, and although the aisles weren't as wide as Walmart's, they also weren't congested with throngs of people whose greatest strengths are to not notice people trying to get through said aisle.

The meat was half the price of Walmart. The cheese was WAY cheaper. We waited 17 seconds in line. And just as we were leaving satisfied and happy, there they were: jumbo-wide red vines. Walmart stopped selling them when they realized that everyone likes them better, and to avoid customer satisfaction had them completely done away with.

The moral of the story is two part: a) Reams is a terrific alternative for meats, poultry, produce and Red Vines, and b) I hate Walmart and you should too.

Prom Dress Shopping Stuff

2009-03-22T17:29:00.014-06:00

I absolutely love spring/summer time for the mere fact that the roads are dry and that means my family comes to visit more. Last weekend my mom and sisters came to Provo to get Kim's prom dress. We met up after I got off work and went to dinner and did some shopping. So much fun! Then of course they all came over to our house to stay the night and we spent the next few hours laughing and talking. I LOVE when they come over. Of course what slumber party would be complete without random pictures.....

Dad Stuff

2009-03-08T18:07:00.005-06:00

I have the best Dad in the world. I know you think you do, but you're wrong. There are so many reasons to love this guy... here are a couple reasons why I know he loves ME!

1. My Dad isn't big into scary movies. They bore him. But one evening when I was in High School he came home from work early and took me and Kim on a Daddy/Daughter Date. We went and saw The Ring 2. He was SO bored. I can still remember the look on his face through the entire movie. He would rather be anywhere else. But he wasn't. He chose to be there with us. That's the kind of Dad he is. He wants to hang out with us because we're cool- not cuz we're "doing" something cool.

2. Given the choice my Dad would definitely rather watch a basketball game than a dance recital. I think most men would. But my Senior Year in High School my Dad came to his first State Drill Team competition. I would have been fine if hadn't of come. It wouldn't have changed our relationship. But I remember when we took 1st place I was so happy to have my own little cheerleader. Someone who was cheering because 'I' won. Not because of the team.

3. Going to college was the first big life changing event in our family. I was the oldest and the first to leave the home and live on my own. I think it was just as sad for my parents as it was for me. My mom and Dad dropped me off in Logan. They took me and my roomies to lunch at Panda Express and then my mom loaded me up with enough groceries to last ALL my roommates at least 6 months. My Dad kept making jabs about how my mom would cry the entire way home. He hugged me extra tight when they got ready to leave. I don't think he cried the entire way home but I think I saw a tear in the corner of his eye. I knew I would be missed.

4. My Dad treated me like a queen when I got married. He paid for my wedding and went along with all my plans. Even when it meant he had to wear a pink tie. I felt like such a princess. The night before my wedding we went out to Salt Lake and stayed at the 'Inn at Temple Square'. It was the first time I had ever stayed somewhere with valet parking. Everything was gorgeous. It was the perfect last night with my family. He made me feel so special at such an important time in my life.

5. Since getting married my Dad has been there every time I needed him. He's packed up his truck and helped us move every time we find a new place to live. He's done my taxes, comes to visit, takes us to dinner. He's been there at every big event in our lives. I know I can count on him for anything.

I couldn't have asked for a better Dad. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I love you Dad.
Happy Birthday!

Taylor Stuff

2009-03-04T15:21:00.008-07:00

I'm not afraid to admit that I love Taylor Swift. She can totally sing my sorrows away. I listen to her in my car, at work, at home. I think she's adorable. It wasn't until today that I figured out WHY I love her so much. She totally gets me. Her lyrics are super deep for someone her age and they totally apply to my life. Need examples?

In "Fifteen" she says.... 'In your life you'll do greater than dating the boy on the football team, but I didn't know it at fifteen'. I feel like I had such a surreal High School experience. I felt like I was on top of the world and everything seemed to be going my way. Then I graduated and real life set in. People outside of Duchesne didn't know my name or all that I had accomplished in High School. I freaked out. I turned super shy and lost my self confidence. It wasn't until recently that it really set in that I was awesome in High School- but I am awesome now. When I'm old it's going to be super cool that I won State Drill Team but that's not what defines me. Life doesn't end at High School graduation. It truly begins. In my life I'll do greater than....

In "Best Day" she says.... 'I'm thirteen now and I don't know how my friends could be so mean, I come home crying and You hold me tight....' I'm 23 and I still don't know how people can be so mean. Sadly we don't all hit a magical age where we grow up and treat everyone with respect. Some people who were snotty 18 year olds are still snotty 45 year olds. I feel so lucky to have my family through it all. My mom and sisters are my best friends. When I have to deal with life's drama I know they are on my team. There are still days I come home crying. I still need my mom and I'm so lucky to have the greatest mom in the world. Love you!

In "You're not Sorry" she says.... "You don't have to call anymore I won't pick up the phone. This is the last straw, don't want to hurt anymore" I know this is technically about a boy- but I think it totally applies to my life. I know I have those people who are constantly bringing me down. I'm just realizing that I get to choose the people I surround myself with. I'm not going to beg and plead for you to treat me right. I don't need you around if you're going to bring drama and stress me out. It feels so great when I can be in control and stand up for myself.

So there you have it. I love Taylor Swift. Her and I are tight. Now you know why.

Delicio Stuff

2009-03-02T15:09:00.003-07:00

Thank you mom, for blogging about how I will blog about my "Delicio (dee-lish-o)Wraps". Since I can't make a liar out of her I figured I better post this recipe for everyone to enjoy.

This is a recipe I made up when Jack and I were first married. It's sort of a tostada type meal (sorry I have no pics). I have no exact measurements. Just make as much as your family will eat.

-Start with homemade Tortilla Shells.

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 c. shortening
1/2 c. water

Mix all dry ingredients. Add water to ingredients, gradually while kneading. Work dough until smooth. Form dough into 2 inch balls and let stand for 5 minutes. Roll out each dough ball with rolling pin to desired round shape. Cook on hot griddle on each side until lightly brown, turning frequently. (We fry ours in oil, but you can just use a hot griddle too)

-Prepare white rice (approx. 1/4 cup prepared rice per person) Once rice is cooked, combine it with canned chicken or cubed baked chicken (as much as you want) add a packet of taco seasoning and prepare as directed on the taco seasoning packet. Set aside. (you can use less than a packet of seasoning- depending on the level of spice you want)

-Heat a can of refried beans.

-You can use whatever toppings your family likes. Some that we've used
cheese
tomatoes
lettuce
sour cream
guacamole
salsa
ranch
mixed vegies (my mom claims it's really good)

Once you've got everything heated up and all your topping ready it's time to eat. Start with a tortilla shell, spread a layer of refried beans on top, then spread a layer of rice/chicken mixture and top with whatever toppings you like.

Jack likes to fold his in half and eat like a taco. I like to keep mine flat and cut into pieces. You can pretty much do whatever you want.

It's super easy and SO good. Give me your feedback if you decide to try it.

Party Stuff

2009-02-24T16:09:00.011-07:00

You all know that Jack and I are super fun people, so of course we would have a super fun birthday party. I wanted it to be a surprise but Jack is AWFUL at surprises. (like when me and Todd and Dana tried to surprise him with birthday lunch at Rodizio and he got super mad cuz I wouldn't let him drive so he decided he wasn't going on our "drive" and went back and pouted at the apartment.... yeah) Anyway, I gave up on the surprise and together we planned the perfect party.... for a seven year old.

We started with dinner at the Training Table. They have amazing cheese fries and you get to order over a telephone. Which is obviously super cool. Todd and Dana, Sam and Tiffany, Adam and Angeline and Higgs and Meri all came out to party hardy with us. We enjoyed greasy food and good conversation. Which is lame-o! Who wants conversation at a birthday party- we're not geezers yet. So then we ran home and ate cake and ice cream while watching an episode of House. Way more "hip" don't ya think?

After all the food we headed up to Sandy to the Classic Fun Center. Jack could not have been happier. We spent an hour in "bouncing fun" and then played lazer tag and went rollerskating. I'm awful at roller skating. Enough said. But having all 10 of us running around like little kids was SO much fun. Seriously it was awsome. We'll probably do it again next year. Cuz we're super fun like that.

Birthday Stuff

2009-02-20T09:49:00.003-07:00

We have a birthday in our house today! My sweet hubby just turned 25! And doesn't he look SO good for his age? Birthdays are super fun at our house. Mainly cuz we're super fun people. I planned this oober sweet party with some friends. It's totally the party you ALWAYS wanted when you were like 7. It's gonna be so great! (I'll post pics)

Jack's my favorite person in the entire world. He knows I love him for so many reasons. So I'll say DITTO to my mom's words and share some of my favorite memories with him.

-A couple years ago we took a road trip to Canada. One of the funnest vacation ever. Anyway, at one point in the road trip we were driving through Idaho or Montana- some baren patch of land- listening to Brian Reagan. It was after 2am, we were exhausted, we hadn't eaten anything but licorice and peanut m&m's for hours and there we were, holding hands and laughing our butts off. It was one of those moments when I stepped back and said, "Wow, I really love this guy".

-When Jack and I were dating we spent most of our "dates" at one of our houses. We watched some incredibly awful movies. Did a bunch of smooching. And talked a lot. One of my favorite memories of us dating was dancing in his parents front room. Jack is really into music and would always play me CD's and we'd dance. He'd sing me songs while we danced and I always thought it was so romantic. I always wanted to marry a romantic guy. Moments like that made me realize, "Wow, I really love this guy".

-Jack is SO talanted when it comes to the guitar. He can sit down and play a song without even looking at the chords. He just kind of figures it out in his head. It's crazy. I love listening to him play. Sometimes he'll sing me to sleep. He'll bring his guitar in and just play till I fall asleep. Moments like that make me think "Wow, I really love this guy".

-Jack is SO helpful when it comes to "womans" work. He vacuumes, does laundry, mops, washes dishes, scrubs bathtubs, dusts, cooks, EVERYTHING. I feel like we're really a team. If I ask him to do something he just does it. Most days the house is spotless when I get home from work. And if people are coming over and I don't have time to pick up I know he's gonna pick up my slack. It's great. When I see him on his hands and knees scrubbing our bathtub, or mopping our kitchen floor while I watch, or making me sit on the couch while he cooks dinner... those are moments when I know "Wow, I really love this guy"

-For our very first Valentines Day Jack bought candles, wine glasses, and a table cloth. He blindfolded me and drove me around Ephraim till we ended up at our destination. He led me into McDonalds where he had set up a table in the back corner. It was SO adorable. People mocked him when he told the story later, but it was seriously so cute. It was perfect. We ate dinner by candlelight and then went home and cuddled on the couch and watched Ghost. The fact that he went to all that work to make valentines special for me reminds me that "Wow, I really love this guy".

Happy Birthday Jack .

Just so you know, I really love you.

Sick Stuff

2009-02-18T19:27:00.002-07:00

Isn't life just so hard? Today was one of those days for me. While I was washing my hair I had an epiphany- I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. And I REALLY didn't want to go to work. So I called in sick to life today. (technically Jack called in sick for me.....) I was so giddy I could hardly stand it. I washed all the dishes that had been sitting in my sink since sunday, I did 4 loads of laundry- washed, dried AND put away. I ran errands and went to lunch with my fabulous husband, I finished shopping for Jack's birthday presents, bought cake and ice cream for Jack's party, now I'm watching American Idol and wishing I never had to work again.

I was surprised at all the things I was missing while I slave my life away at work.

Like when I was at Wal-mart I happened to get in line behind this super cute couple. Not gorgeous by any means but cute. You know the type. Anyway, not even kidding- their entire purchase consisted of Lean Cuisine, 100 calorie cracker packs, sugar free ice cream, Rice Cakes, etc. Then I started thinking... what if this guy is emotional abusive. And he told her she was fat. And that she HAD to eat Lean Cuisine, and SUGAR FREE ICE CREAM- like does he not know that stuff has ASPERTINE! What a Jerk.

I also went to Ross today. I saw a cute little girl who totally reminded me of THIS girl. On average I get to see this comercial like once a night. BUT if I stay home all day with the TV on I get to see it like TWICE. Reason eneough to quit my job.

Also I realized today that the world is good. Yes world, you have redeemed yourself. You kept Danny in the top 12 and sent Tahtiana home. And did you see how weird Tahtiana is? I mean seriously.

And there you have it. Now I must convince myself that I can't be sick again tomorrow.

Rachel Stuff

2009-02-15T15:47:00.004-07:00

In the last month we've spent over $500 on a car we hated. We finally decided it was time to trade in for something that would actually work. This is how Rachel came to be.

Luckily I am amazing and work at a car dealership. So Friday afternoon Jack came down and test drove some cars and fell in love with this Hyundai Elantra. 3 hours later we walked away the proud owners of a new car!

She is beautiful and fits into our family so well. She's a Charcoal Gray 2007 Hyundai Elantra. She has 31,000 miles on her and 29,000 more miles of warranty (my favorite part). Because I work at the dealership we were able to get her at wholesale price- so our monthly payments stayed the same.

I heart my new car one ton!

Valentines Stuff

2009-02-15T15:33:00.006-07:00

So this year was the first Valentines Jack and I had spent together since 2006. Sad huh? Usually my parents are off spending money on some exotic island and I'm taking care of the kids. Gotta love being the oldest child eh?

But this year Jack and I got to spend it together. I told him I didn't want to deal with the crowds and the endless hours of waiting at restaurants. So we had a nice dinner for two at home. We ordered our favorite Orange Chicken from China Garden in Provo (totally recommend it- SO amazing) and we ate in our living room.

Jack was a sweetheart and bought me chocolate, flowers and an awesome Spanish balloon. We watched some All Star Basketball action and the movie Serendipity. It was practically perfect.

I love you baby! Here's to us, spending infinity valentines days together. Cheers!

Cameron Stuff

2009-02-04T09:50:00.006-07:00

15 year ago my brought Cameron home from the hospital. I was at the stage where I was old enough to know what was going on and therefore having a baby around was a little funner. I love this guy SO much. I am so lucky to have him in my life! Here's a couple reasons why I love Cameron so much.

~Happy 15th Birthday Cameron~

1- He is SO sweet. Seriously the most tender hearted person I've ever met. He's always in tune to people's feelings and does whatever he can to make you feel better.

2- He's such a gentlemen. One of my favorite memories with Cameron was when he took me on a "date" (I can't remember if it was right before college or right before my wedding) Anyway, we went over to Roosevelt to go to dinner and a movie because I wanted to spend time with him before I moved away. We went to Taco Time and I ordered my food and Cameron insisted on paying for it (remember he was like 11 or 12 at the time). It was so sweet. I felt so spoiled. I remember thinking how proud I was to be out with him. He's gonna make some girl incredibly happy some day.

3- He's so easy to talk to. Even though he's 8 years younger than me I feel like we can sit and talk like regular adults. He is genuinly interested in what I have to say and the things that are going on in my life. He's incredibly mature for his age and I just love being able to talk to him .

4- He's so much fun. He's always up for some random activity. Whether it be floating the river at night (my mom never actually let us do it but he was TOTALLY game for it). Or just chilling at home. He's always fun to be around. Jack and I took him to a Jazz game for Christmas last year and we had SO much fun. He's always making us laugh and teasing us. He's just one of those guys you want to be with.

5- He lives his life the way he chooses, he doesn't let others influence his decisions. He's the only Wilkerson boy who wasn't a basketball player. He decided he wanted to wrestle and play football instead so he put all of his energy into being the best he could be. I'm so proud of him that he could step out of his brothers shadow and succeed with the gifts God gave him.

I love Cameron SO much. I'm so lucky to have him as not only a brother but also a friend. I love you bud! Happy Birthday!

Kimberly Stuff

2009-02-03T10:04:00.009-07:00

17 years ago my mom finally gave birth to a little girl. After dealing with 2 brothers I'm sure I was ecstatic to have a little sister (I don't really remember though- I was 6.) I love this girl like a sister (which is convenient) and I'm so lucky to have her in my life! Here's a few things I love about this girl.

~Happy 17th Birthday Kimberly~

1- She makes me laugh all the time. She has this stupid little voice that she sings in. One time she was sitting at the computer oblivious to the world and she starts singing "Jesus said love everyone, he gave his love to (pause) just about everyone". Only those of you who have heard this voice can truly appreciate the funny-ness of this.

2- She is so independent. I really admire that about her. She's the relay for life chairman for her area and flew to Phoenix for a week convention all by herself. She didn't know one person there till she went and she was perfectly fine with that. I could never do that. I'm too shy. But she is so confident when it comes to things like that.

3- She makes me feel important. When I go home to visit she cancels plans with her friends so she can hang out with me.

4- She's so smart! She scored a 26 on her first attempt at the ACT (so did I- those Wilkerson girls are smart!). She's planning on applying to Penn State and wants to be a Pediatric Oncologist when she's older. How awesome is that?

5- She truly is one of my best friends. We have so much fun when we are together. We can talk about anything and I know no matter what she's always on my side. We can fight and argue and I still know she loves me.

Thanks for being born Kimberly and for being the bratty 6 year old that shared my room and left scars on my body from scratching me so hard/often and making me listen to your constant screaming and always getting your way because you knew just how to manipulate Dad into giving you everything you wanted. Thanks for being that girl so I could appreciate the great girl that you are today! I love ya!

Experience Stuff

2009-01-30T16:30:00.007-07:00

I'm not the best at keeping a journal. Luckily I'm not too shabby at blogging so I'll have some type of history for my family to see. I've been thinking a lot about an experience we had a year ago. I realized I never wrote it down and wanted some sort of documentation that I could draw upon later. I figured I might as well let you guys in on the story as well. Remember I'm all about helping other people through my own experiences?

One year ago Jack and I heard about a little girl who needed a family. Her mom had abandoned her and left her with the grandma who was struggling with her health. The baby was being raised for the most part by the mom's 16 year old sister. The grandma had expressed an interest in letting someone adopt this baby. When I heard about it I was completely convinced that I was meant to be this baby's mom. I started doing all the things they tell you not to do-looking at baby items, imagining her life with us, planning our future. I had just quit my job at Express Title so I had oodles of time on my hands to imagine such a life.

Jack, on the other hand, was harder to convince. He wasn't sure if he was emotionally ready to give up on having a biological baby. He didn't think we were financially stable eneough to pursue an adoption. And he wasn't sure what his feelings were on adoption at the time.

I remember one particular afternoon I was driving home from a job interview and I was feeling significantly low. I had been stressing so much about this baby and I had no idea what we were supposed to do. I decided to drive around for a bit and ended up at the temple. I spent the next hour sobbing and begging my Heavenly Father to tell me what to do. He knew I wanted a baby, and even more importantly I knew He wanted me to have a baby. I left the temple feeling completely drained and still as confused as ever.

I don't ever remember feeling like I got an answer to my prayer. At least in the way I expected it to come. Jack's Dad told him at one point that it wouldn't hurt to check it out. We'd never know if this was what we were supposed to do if we didn't get the facts. So that's what we decided to do.

Obviously it didn't work out- which is why we are still childless. I arranged a time to meet with the family. My Dad came with me and we talked to the grandma. She informed us that she no longer wanted to give the baby up and was no longer interested. It was one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life. I sobbed the entire way home and I felt so empty.

Looking back I can see how much we've grown from the experience. I know there was a reason that we went through what we did. I know that my Heavenly Father answers prayers and he answered my prayer that day by taking away a little girl who I had already grown to love. And I know when the time is right I'll get the baby who is meant to complete our family.

What we're up to stuff....

2009-01-30T09:55:00.003-07:00

So we're reaching the bright light at the end of an incredibly dark tunnel. The past 2 weeks have been awful. Full of "poor me" moments and lots of stress. But we're done and we made it. (At least I hope it's done) Now our lives have changed a little so here's an update on what's happening in our neck of the woods.

1- Jack got a new job working for a call center in Lindon- Teleperformance. He'll be working in the Verizon customer service section. We're hoping he'll be able to switch to the Dell section during the summer (they make more money) but for now this is a GOOD switch.

2- Jack is not going to school this semester. They had a mess up with some paperwork at the school which in turn messed up his financial aid and we couldn't afford to pay for school without fin. aid. So he's taking a semester off. Which again (after some incredibly upset days) is a GOOD thing. It will give him time to devote to work. I'll enjoy having him less stressed and I won't have to worry about reminding him to do his homework. He'll start back up in the fall and things will continue on as normal.

3- We have 2 working cars again! After sitting in a warm garage for a couple days our sentra started right up with no problems. It's been a couple days and still no problems so hopefully it stays that way! So again, this is a GOOD thing.

4- Jack's sister Meri moved in with us a few weeks ago. Long story short, she needed a place to stay and we have an extra bedroom. Luckily I love her like a sister so this is a GOOD thing. She buys some groceries and pays some rent so things are working out just fine.

5- I still have a job! Which is a GOOD thing! My new boss said if I wanted to stay they would like to keep me. (cuz I'm the most awsome secretary ever to be invented). So I have a job for a while longer.

See, GOOD things do happen to me. I'm not all about being depressed.

Long time ago stuff

2009-01-22T16:11:00.003-07:00

January is almost over, which means more and more people are piping up to say they are all of 32 seconds pregnant. I hate the Happy Valley baby booms.

On December 11th 2005 I popped my last birth control pill. Jack and I had been married a whopping 2 months and I figured we were both "ready" and "mature enough" to be parents. I wanted a baby so bad. Jack was going to be such a good Dad. We were living in Ephraim at the time. In a 2 bedroom apartment that we paid a whopping $385 dollars a month (that seems so cheap to me). I was working for my Dad from home, Jack was going to school full time. I thought it was perfect timing. On December 12th I was sure I was pregnant. Because that's how it works right? Actually I've been pretty sure I was pregnant everyday for the past 3 years. Everytime I felt sick or my stomach twitched I was sure I should start buying baby stuff.

3 years later it's still just me and Jack.

We've been to the dr.'s, started fertility drugs, tried all sorts of home remedies, researched everything from vitamins to the best adoption agencies. It still makes me sad when I see people getting pregnant and having babies.

I want to be a mommy.