1st Anniversary!

It's been 1 year since Chance and I tied the knot! And what a wonderful year it has been! I've spent the past couple of days thinking about what a wonderful wedding day we had.  I feel so blessed to have had such a fairy tale wedding and especially blessed to have found a true prince!

Thank you to all of you who were a part of our special day and continue to be an important part of our lives!

To celebrate, my sweet man took me to the Cheesecake Factory and to the Nutcracker (which by the way was Fabulous - all new costumes and even some new choreography in a newly renovated Capital Theater).  He even had a special little surprise photo shoot arranged - a very selfless gift since I Love pictures and he really really dislikes them. :)

For his gift.... along the same 'picture theme' I had some art framed that we bought on our honeymoon.  I'm a little embarrassed it took me a year to do it, but Chance was excited, so I guess it worked out. 

Here's to may many more anniversaries in years to come! Sure do love this man of mine and can't wait for the wonderful adventures to come.

Love you Chance!

Our Trip to Lovely D.C.

Anyone can go to DC when the government is open, but it takes particularly good timing to get there when the government is all shut down.  Trust me to be able to time it just right. ;)

When most people go to DC they spend their time at stuffy museums in old buildings filled with a bunch of old stuff like bones from animals that don't even exist anymore, or 300 year-old paintings, or jewelry that is so old it was actually on the Titanic... luckily all those free places were closed.  This allowed for Chance and I to open our minds {and our wallets} to other slightly more expensive museums in DC.

The picture on the right is of the antenna from one of the towers and behind it is an entire wall of newspapers from 9/12.  The bottom picture is chance trying out his news anchor skills - I think it's best he keep his focus on PA school. 

Our first stop was the Newseum.  Even though it's price was a bit of a deterrent, there was still a line out the door and half way down the block.  Private museums in DC LOVE it when the government closes down.  Can't say I blame them. 

It was a rather cool museum that documented news over the past few hundred years. They had a Berlin wall exhibit that actually had pieces of the wall there for us to touch.  My favorite exhibit was a tribute to 9/11 and the individuals who brought the story into our individual homes around the world. They also had a large exhibit about JFK - it's been 50 years since his death.  The only thing more interesting than that exhibit were the cute old people taking it in who could remember the day it happened.  I think they related to the JFK exhibit the way we related to the 9/11 exhibit. 

Another exciting museum that we never would have found if all the museums within the first three subway stops were open was The Phillips Collection.  We got to experience an interesting collection of Van Gogh's art.  Though to be honest, after looking at the entire collection, the only picture that really took my breath away was one of Degas! Maybe I just understand his obsession with ballet.  And as usual, I could look at Monet for hours! 

We were lucky to meet up with some friends from SLC while in DC - amazing that they could have as good of timing as we did!

It was fun to have them along for part of our adventure... we were particularly excited when Chris almost fit through the fence to the White House.

After we spent all our money, we decided to check out the monuments of DC even if we had to admire from afar.  Luckily, all the war monuments were open.  As a note -  that does not mean the bathrooms were open... obviously that job is considered 'unnecessary', though I would definitely disagree! 

The Lincoln memorial was closed which was a real shame... and there were a lot of people there to voice their similar opinion.  I understand that DC has quite a few 'crazies' on a normal day, however I can't help but believe that the government shutdown caused a few more to come to town... and in force.


The Korean War memorial was a favorite - Chance pointed out the very real expressions on the soldiers faces. They represent a spectrum of different and moving emotions.

The other monuments we were able to visit were very nice, and made me feel so very grateful for the selfless men and women who had sacrificed so much so that I could have the opportunity to spend my holiday weekend free and safe.

One of my very favorite experiences in our short little visit was Arlington Cemetery.  We were able to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as a change of the flower wreath in front of it.  It was very touching as family members of men and women who had sacrificed everything were able to pay tribute in a very beautiful and solemn ceremony.  

  

All things considered, i'm so glad we had an opportunity to explore this town, eat at some of Chance's favorite restaurants, visit dear friends (so sad we didn't get pictures with you guys), and enjoy a fun little adventure with my handsome hubby! Even with the government closed, we still had a great time... but next time I think we'll try to go when the government is open. ;)

Do I look like a terrorist to you?

I have a slight problem... every time I go to the airport I end up being that person who 'randomly' gets chosen to have my hands swabbed to test for drugs, or get a pat-down after the metal detector, or have a random bag check. 

When I was younger and traveling with the family I was a nanny for, I sort of got it. I looked different from the family I was traveling with and it was tricky to know why I was there.. so there must be some kind of foul play, right?  And I guess when I travel with my friends, I am the only redhead so that must mean something.  And when I was traveling in Africa I was the person who looked the most out of place and didn't have a visa, so fine, pull me aside and try to get me to pay a bribe, oh I mean an extra "fee" to let me out of "airport security". 

But seriously, people - why is it always me who is the recipient of the 'random' safety check.  It's so bad that my coworkers even know to expect it.  While traveling to DC today my boss was asking me if I got stopped in security.  I proudly told him I didn't and he joked about me always holding them up in the airport on work trips. 

Fast forward to us waiting in the boarding line at our gate.  I get about half-way up the line when a TSA agent walks up to me and says they are doing random bag checks and asks if I will please come with him... SERIOUSLY? My boss just started laughing as I walked over to their little table and opened my purse for someone to go through before I could board the plane. 

I don't know what i'm doing that screams dangerous person trying to board plane, but whatever it is, I think i've perfected it!

Conference time...

It's almost that time of the year again!

I just love Conference weekend. I so look forward to hearing our church leaders give us guidance in our troubled world - plus you get to have church in your PJ's! 

{an advantage of living in Utah where they play it on your local television stations}

Do any of you have fun conference weekend traditions with your family? How do you make the most out of your weekend?

oh Pandora

why must you mock me? Every day it stops at 4:40 and asks me if i'm still listening... of course I am! I have to work till 5 and so do you. Stop trying to quit early!

Love,
Star

My Mom is 50!

My mommy turned 50 yesterday! To celebrate we had a SuRpRiSe PaRtY for her on Saturday, and she was so surprised. It was a lot of work, but so worth it to see the look on her face.

Thank you to all of her friends and family who came to make her day special - it is just what she wanted- each of you!

Mom and her cute parents - thanks for driving all the way from Manti!

Every party needs lots of yummy food.

Have I mentioned that my husband is an amazing cake maker! The cake was beautiful and tasted divine!

Loved the Italian Soda Bar.

I feel so blessed to have my mom as my very best friend! Mom - thank you for your sweet spirit, your strong example, your gentle kindness, and your eternal & unconditional love! Here is to 50 more... love you to the moon and back!

Best Friends

One year...

One year ago today...ok one year and 3 days ago today, I said YES! 

Let's face it, that was by far the most wonderful decision of my life up to this point, and  I am so very very grateful for every day i've had with the man of my dreams! 

9/20/2012 Chance is a little nervous at this point in the evening...

I feel so very blessed to have him by my side in all that we go through and have such a comfort in knowing that the challenges we face in the future can be faced together.  I am also thrilled to spend the holiday season together without the stress of planning a wedding. 

I can honestly say I don't know what I would do without this strong, loving, generous, spiritual, handsome, smart man in my life. He makes me so very happy and is such an awesome example to me. 

Sure do love ya babe!

So proud of my EMT

For those of you who don't know my husband too well, let me just say he is a bit of an over-achiever.  I know every woman probably thinks her hubby is Superman, but I Know!

Even with two jobs, and school he still has time to visit new families in the neighborhood, help out {a lot} at our aunts weddings, take my brother Jaden to soccer practice and take care of me after surgery.

And to top it all off - he is now a certified EMT!

Way to go babe! I'm so proud to be your wife!

This one time I won a ...

Telly Award!

Oh, you don't know what that is?  Well, that's ok - I actually didn't know either until my boss submitted a project I produced for the competition.  

I'll spare you the details, but if you are really interested in what the award is for, go here.  But for all intents and purposes, I think it is just to look cool in our conference room, and to make the 'big boss' really happy! 

If you look closely you will see my name on there - pretty exciting. 

Yup - we also got a certificate.  This is pretty legit people.  ;)

But what I would really like you to see is the video I produced that won the award.  I'm actually pretty proud of it and I hope you enjoy it as much as some swanky judge did. 

Go HERE now... please

My Secret Garden

Every now and then I sneak away at lunch to spend a little time in my secret garden.  

Oh how I love summer!

The Trek

A couple weeks ago Chance and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on trek as a Ma and Pa! I was so excited to go on trek again, and especially excited to share the experience with my man!

Pre-trek ~ look how clean we are.

 Last week Chance spoke in church about his trek experience, and for his talk he created the Top 10 lessons he learned on trek.  I'll share them with you because he already wrote them out and then it will feel like he's contributing to 'our' blog. ;)

10. New perspective on the song, Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked.  Our pioneer children loved to sing - all the children enjoyed singing.  Even if the adults had wanted to join in, we didn't know half the songs...

9. We never knew there were so many variations on hugging! As a family we had all sorts of fun hugs like the 'cinnamon roll' and 'one foot in'.  I quite liked it, but it was a little much for Chance.

8. Porta Potties are not ideal! Ok, so we already knew this, but what we really learned from them was how important everyones role is in the church. Our stake YM leader is a federal judge and a rather important man by the worlds standards... yet on trek he was in charge of cleaning and transporting the porta potties. Many men (and women) would have felt that they were given a calling below them... but Bro. Therman was an amazing example of doing whatever is needed within the church

We were always somewhat relieved to see the porta potties. 

7. Surrounding yourself with good role models and people who inspire you is very important. We were lucky to not only have amazing YM & YW in our family, but our adult children were wonderful.  We even had a member of the stake presidency in our family, and though he didn't want to be there at first (and we were rather nervous to have him), his opinion of trek quickly changed, as well as our opinion of him! :)

The Oscars! We all had names from movie characters.

6.  It's OK not to finish first...This was a slightly more difficult lesson for my husband, as he has the competitive spirit!  For me the lesson was more about the importance of family.  We were about to cross the finish line at the very end of trek (and trying to figure out how we could pass the one cart in front of us so we could be the first to finish) when our children pointed out that we didn't have our whole family.  One of our adult children - Paparazzi - was in charge of all the pictures for trek.  She was rather far behind, so we pulled over and waited for her. It was fun to cheer all the other handcarts into camp, but it was priceless as we saw sweet paparazzi coming over the hill and our whole family ran towards her.  Crossing the finish line as a family was so much sweeter than it ever would have been to finish first!

5. We CAN do Hard things! This was a lesson we continued to learn.  We learned that our pioneer ancestors found that they could do hard things, and we became more and more aware of the hard things in life we are capable of!

4. Our families theme was a quote from Elder Maxwell: God does not ask us about our ability but rather our availability and if we prove our dependability he will increase our capability.  We learned a lot about the importance of making ourselves available for God and His will.

3. I learned the lesson of the power of one in a very sweet way!  During the 'women's pull' we had less women than many of the other families. As we were pulling along I could see some of the Kitchen Crew watching on the side of the path and counting the women on each handcart. As we passed them I felt this extra serge of strength coming from the back of our cart - all my girls noticed and were greatly appreciative.  I really don't know if we could have done it without her. Never underestimate what little help you can give - it may make all the difference.

2.  The magnitude of God's love.  Over the space of 2 1/2 days we came to deeply love our 'family' and had a glimpse of how much our father in heaven could love each of us.  If we could learn to love perfect strangers that quickly, imagine the love from someone who knows us perfectly!

Paul (my son) and Brock - photo bombing.

1. The power of Jesus Christ in our lives is the main lesson we (and hopefully our family) learned. My favorite scripture has been Matt 11: 28-30 for some time and I truly think it is from my experiences on the trek.

There were many other lessons learned, fun times had and wonderful friends made. I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity!

4th of July {still catching up}

Chance and I celebrated the 4th with the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Love! I had a fun time swimming all day with Holly, while Chance was at work, and then we all met up at the Sugarhouse street fair and fireworks.  

Even though our evening included A LOT of walking to Holly's 'perfect' spot, it turned out to be a very enjoyable night. 

Birthday fun! {just a little late}

I had a birthday.... almost a month ago. :) But I've been a bit busy, so i'm just getting around to telling you all about it.

My birthday celebrating actually started a few days early with my sorority sister dinner group.  Three out of the six of us have a birthday in the same week! How fun is that?!?!

We had ice cream for dessert, and Jess made sure we all had a few candles too.

Then, to start off my real birthday, my cute husband sent me off to early morning yoga at the pool (my favorite) and while I was gone made me breakfast.  But he knew he would have to go to work before I got home and he didn't want the food to be cold, so he had prepared everything to the point that I just had to turn things on and the breakfast finished itself. He included adorable notes to walk me through the process.

Isn't he a sweetheart.  He also invited my mom down for breakfast so I wouldn't have to eat alone.

Unfortunately my birthday was a work day, so the majority of my day was spent working away, but Chance was sure to treat me to a lovely fancy dinner at Cucina Toscana {be sure to get the spinach ravioli as an appetizer if you go} and he invited family and friends over for cake and ice cream that night.

I also got some great gifts - after all, that is one of the things Chance is best at.  I got a 5 lb. bag of Cinnamon bears, Les Mis, and a cute star charm for my bracelet.

I was a very spoiled girl all day, and i'm lucky to have a man who made my day so special.  I have a feeling 26 is going to be a great year full of wonderful adventures!

 PS - When I went to my birthday dinner with my office we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  My boss told them my name was Starlet (my office nick name) but they came out and sang a rousing version of Happy Birthday to Scarlett - my office LOVED it!!

Brought to you by Pinterest

Hello friends! Today's post is brought to you by Pinterest.

We all spend a lot of hours looking at all the wonderful things that some perfect person out there apparently made with their own hands, and every now and then we get brave enough to try them... Some of my pinterest creations were epic fails, or as my husband likes to say - Nailed it!  I wish I had more pictures to share, but here are a few semi successful pinterest creations.

1. Cookie Ice cream bowl - Nailed It! (if you haven't noticed yet, that's a bad thing)

They are supposed to look something like this.
Link

Ours came out a little different! 

Chance is a good sport and made them work anyway! 

2. Birthday Sign - Not too shabby

Link

This little banner turned out a lot better than I thought it would.  Mostly because it had a link for me to print off the letters - all I had to do was add a little color and hang it up!

3. Watermelon cookies - No proof

Ok so I didn't get a picture of this one, so you're just going to have to trust me when I say it turned out ok.

Link

I will warn you that the shape of the cookie can be pretty critical on this one, but if you feed all the ugly cookies to your husband and only frost the cute ones, it turns out great.

Ok, your turn to tell my your favorite Pinterest fail or share with me your amazing fail-proof craft/recipe/whatever.

Happy pinning & posting!

Love,
Star