Todd's Birthday Celebration

The Birthday Boy

I love birthdays! I love mine and I love getting ready for someone else's. Birthday's have always been a big thing in my family. At least to me they have been. I send out reminders 2 months ahead! Sad I know. Anyway... So this was Todd's day. He got breakfast made before work (that's a treat, we leave at 6:45am and I don't like making anything that early), I went and bought him some reese's peanut butter cups for lunch, he had homemade lasgna for dinner. He wanted a chocolate cake with chocoalte frosting, and that's what he got.

He was born at 2:15am. In my family we're not suppose to open presents until the time we were born. But Todd didn't want to wake up that early, so he had to wait until I was ready! After lasgna came the presents.

PRESENT 1:

A gift certiciate for a 30 minute massage. He's been wanting one for awhile and after the work he's been doing he deserved it.

PRESENT 2:

Boxers or Breifs. We played this game once, with one of Todd's friends, and have been looking for it since. No store carries it. Thank goodness for ebay!

Later some of our friends came over for some cake and ice cream.

Todd's Chocolate Chocoalte Cake, enjoyed with some of Todd's favorite ice cream-Cookies & Cream.

I took the picture a little late. This was just after he blew out the candles.

We ended up playing the new game, with everyone, and had a blast! Honestly, I highly recommend it. Especially with a larger group of people. All in all, I think Todd had a good day, at least I hope he did!

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY TODD

Pioneer Day

Yesterday Todd and I had the opportunity to go up to St. Anthony to see their Pioneer Day Parade. It's usually celebrated on July 24th but since that was a Thursday it ended up on Saturday. It was actually quite fun. They had some pretty cool floats. We were thinking they'd be more pioneer themed things, but in a sense they were. I guess when we think pioneer we think the women wearing the long dress with bonnets. But they made it more with how all those that have settled America are pioneers. It was neat.








They started the parade with a bunch of army tanks. The one at the top kept spraying a bunch of water.


Horses were a reoccurring theme. They had some real pretty ones. We thought these ones were cool cause they had a checkerboard on their rears!

I thought having old hursts were weird, but it was kind of neat to see them. The old buggy even had a casket in it, but due to the reflection you can't see it.





Good ol' John Deer.

Here are just a bunch of the different floats they had:

(if you click on them, you can see a bigger picture)

Here's the "Grand Prize" float:



I thought it was a cool float. They have George Washington praying on one side and Joseph Smith and the First Vision on the other side.

One thing we learned from going to this parade is that if you want any of the candy, you need to have kids. There was a group a kids a little bit down from us and then us. They would throw stuff to the kids, look at us, and then turn to the other side of the street and start throwing!! How rude, but we still got a little candy. I think some people had a little sympathy for us.

Todd going out into the street to get some candy that was thrown to us, but didn't quite make it.

Memories Please!!

You can do it for both Todd and I

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together, or one of the first memories you have of me. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! ...it can be happy, sad, angry, something stupid i did in front of you (I am sure there are plenty of those out there), anything!!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you...Get excited!

3. Make sure there are tons of details! I want to know how your remember it! thanks

Hard Days Work

This is what a hard days work can do to ya.......

One Year Anniversary

Today's our 1 Year Anniversary! This past year we've had some fun exciting times such as:

• Paying Mexican cops off in Tijuana. Long story. We were on our honeymoney and were on our way back to the border when some nasty cops pulled us over.
  
• Being able to go to the San Diego Temple.
• I went camping and hiking, in the mountains, for the first time. Almost died on the hike. Well, I guess I'm exaggerating, I just wasn't use to the altitude.
• While camping I also got to shoot guns for the first time.
  
• Went on a 17 hour road trip with Todd's parents and his sister to Kentucky. We pulled at one point and one of my flip-flops some how fell out of the van and got left. 3 days later on the way back, Joe (Todd's Dad) pulled over and my flip-flop was still sitting on the side of the highway.
• While in Kentucky we got to go to the Grand Ol Opry and see Josh Turner, Ashton Shepard and a bunch of old country stars.
  
• For Christmas we went to Dallas to visit my family. Todd also has a brother that lives in Ft. Hood, so we went and visited his family for a couple days. On the way home Todd got pulled over in Italy, TX for going 20 over the speed limit in a construction zone. All he could talk about were how the cop and some other cops, at a gas station, were all wearing cowboy boots!
• We made our first move together up to Rexburg ID.
• We experienced truly freezing cold weather. The coldest being 20 below zero, the car almost didn't start. And despite the cold I still wouldn't let us turn the heater above 65F our first month up here. I didn't want some huge gas bill the next month.
• I got a job at Texas Road House as a hostess. It lasted 3 days. It was the only time that I've truly felt old. The girls they have as hostesses are all 16 or 17 and here I come walking in some married 22 year old.
• We moved to another apartment in Rexburg.
• And lastly we are now working together! Not quite together, just at the same company. Now that Todd has the fall semester off he's working at Potato Products in the production area making twice bakes and mashed potatoes.

It truly has been an amazing year. We've had our good and bad, but the Lord has truly blessed us. I'm grateful for the memories we've made and that we get to look back on and enjoy together.

We've uploaded our videos from our wedding for your viewing pleasure. Todd made them to play at the receptions. The first is just pictures of us growing up and dating and the second was for the Dallas reception. It's pictures from the wedding. They're long, but if you have time enjoy. They've been fun to watch again.

Todd I love you and thank you for everything. Each day is another new experience that I look forward to sharing with you. Love you-forever and always.

Time is Flyin By

I can't believe how fast everything is going. Todd is in his last week of class and his first full year of college will be completed. It feels like it was just yesterday that we were moving up to Rexburg and I hated it. I think my first two months here I dreaded it. Everything was white and it was freezing cold!! No one should have to experience it being -20 outside! I had no job for the first month. It seemed like I was never going to find one, or if I did it was going to be flipping hamburgers.

Now almost 7 months later it's beautiful here. The weather is great. People say it's hot (I even do sometimes), but in all honesty it's not bad at all. I don't think it's really gotten above 90. It feels like it's Texas in March. So if you're wanting to move to Idaho I would suggest moving in the summer time! I finally found a job and we have been so blessed with it. It's an amazing experience that I love. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us. It is by far one of my favorite jobs. I miss being in the kitchen and the fast pace, but working with the people I do makes things so much better. I've been able to learn a new side to the food service industry. I never thought there was much to a potato, but let me tell ya there's a lot you can do with it. Being able to watch all the research and development aspect is by far my favorite. There's so much that happens with the development of a product that the consumers don't get to see or experience. I love it! Our ward is awesome. The people here are so friendly and welcoming. Todd and I played with our ward's softball team. We won 1st place by the way! It was so much fun. We started playing our second week here and really enjoyed it. I've been able to join a walking group at night and a book club! It's amazing when you start thinkin postivily and actually seeing and recognizing the blessings that Heavenly Father have given you. I think that was probably one of my major set backs when we moved here. I didn't want to be here and that's all I thought about. Now I've finally realized it's where we're suppose to be and it's where we want to be.

Todd is amazing. I'm truly proud of him. He has done so much since being here. He's studying hard and raising his GPA. He took his last test for History, before the final, and made a 98! That's awesome. He's been doing really well, but that was the highest score he's made in that class. I was pretty excited. Along with school he's been putting up with me, which Todd and my family can tell you is probably a full time job it's self. But in all seriousness he's been amazing putting up with me. Especially when I have my so called "mood swings". He's helped me recognize the positive things and overcome the obstacles we've gone through.

My Studmuffin

It's been nice having the time fly, but I hope that while we're here that we take the time to truly enjoy it. This is a time that I know we'll be able to look back on and be grateful for it. We've truly learned the concept of budgeting and being with just the two of us. We both miss our families, but it's been nice with just the two of us and not having that security there. I hope that doesn't sound bad. I know that since being here we've both have relied on each other more and have gotten to know each other better. I miss my conveniences such as the mall, Super Target (yeah I think that's what I miss the most), a Super Walmart, anything, but we have such an amazing convenience of the temple. It's in our back yard pretty much.

I'm so grateful for the power of prayer and to know that we're where we're suppose to be. I know that with each obstacle, and each test we experience the Lord is right along with us helping us through. I'm grateful for the opportunity Todd has to go school and to further his education. And I'm especially grateful for his desire to do so and to want to be able to provide a better future for our family. Though the time maybe hard now it will allow him to do what he wants to do in the future and to be happy with that occupation.

So as of now we're staying busy working and going to school, and enjoying this time together.

Babysitting

Tonight Todd and I watched our neighbor's little boy while they went out to dinner. This little boy was so cute. We were afraid that once Trent and Kim left that he would start to cry, but he didn't. He became highly entertained with a water bottle and Todd had to help him drink it. At one point Todd went to get something out of the car and Ethan started crying. It was so cute. I think he liked Todd a little more than me. When he was drinking the bottle and he would have to wait for Todd he would start shrugging his shoulders in anticipation. It was so cute.

This was our first time to watch someone's kid together, and I think we did pretty well!

Pizza

Most Friday nights it's pizza night for us. For awhile I was trying to recreate Pappa Murphy's Gourmet Chicken Pizza. It's Todd's favorite. It took me awhile, but I finally found something similar. So then my next project was trying to find a decent crust. I've found a few that I've liked, but they still weren't anything that I loved. There was one white dough that I really liked, but when I went to make it tonight I couldn't find where I put it. I think it got lost with the move and with me trying to make a recipe book. So I went looking for the recipe, but I came upon a different one and thought I would try it. I loved it!!! When it first came out it looked really good, but it tastes awesome. It was the perfect texture, taste, everything. The best part it made enough so that I could freeze half of it for another time! It uses bread flour with just a little bit of wheat flour. Todd's not a huge fan of wheat, and I love it. The little bit of wheat makes it chewy and gives it a little more flavor, but doesn't make it too wheaty! I think I could add a little bit more wheat flavor too. MMM... it was so good.

Anytime I make something new and I don't know how I feel about it, I usually ask Todd what he thinkgs. But tonight I didn't. I probably sound a little crazy, but it's taken me forever to find a really good pizza dough. Now I can move on to a new project!

New Glasses

I finally got my new glasses!! I love them. It took me a couple days to get use to them. It's amazing what the right prescription will do for ya!

Wilson Family Reunion

Well, we made it back from Colorado and had a blast! We left Rexburg about 11:30am and got to Snow Mountain Ranch around 10:30pm. It was a long drive, but well worth it.

Trying to get a picture of Todd and I driving.

A long stretch of road in Wyoming. Luckily this isn't what the whole drive was. Most of it was pretty nice.

We went through Steamboat Springs, and it was beautiful.

The sunset was amazing.

Todd comes from a very large family. I think they said there was around 85 people. This reunion was the 30th anniversary and it was neat to be a part of. Growing up my family was never really by our extended family. We moved to Texas when I was 2 so I didn't get to know a lot of my cousins. Being there with all of Todd's Aunts & Uncles, and Cousins was really fun. It was neat to see how close they were.

On Friday we went and played miniature golf after having breakfast with all the family. Then we went to a little carnival for the kids. They had face painting and a bunch of games. Todd got to help some of the boys make walking sticks. I got burned bad. Both Todd and I didn't think about putting sun screen on. I have some nice tan lines and a peeling nose now. Todd got a weird tan line. When he's out running he wears an ankle brace. That's the only place that really burned on his legs and it's really red.

Friday night we drove into Fraser, CO and watched the fireworks. We parked on the side of US-Highway 40. It was the first time that both Todd and I watch fireworks from a highway. But while we were waiting a truck kept driving up and down, I don't know how many times, with these huge signs about saving a life and not having an abortion. Yeah for the guy, but it was kinda funny. He was driving slow and all the cars would try to pass him. But seriously I think he drove pass us at least 3 or 4 times. The fireworks were amazing. Some of them felt like they were falling right on you. The only downside was that we were sitting on the side of the highway so anytime a car would drive by their lights would shine in your eyes.

Saturday morning we had our family pictures taken. After we had lunch and then a family birthday party. Todd got some new screw drivers and a T-shirt and I got a green lamp! Then we pretty much spent the rest of the day playing around. We had a rock, paper, scissors contest. Todd and I got out quickly. There was a playground, outside of the place we ate at, were we played four square and had a little obstacle course. It started out with all the little kids going and Todd. Our niece Monique went and was awesome. But there was this part with a net and she went to jump it and fell flat. So when Todd went he thought he had it all down. This is his run:

He hit pretty hard. That night his ribs were hurting him, but he finished through! I wish I was able to get a closer shot, but couldn't. If you look hard enough you can tell he's just trying to roll off the net. When it was my turn I learned from Todd and Monique. I pretty much crawled onto the net.

Later that night we had a trivia game where there were questions about all of Todd's Aunts and Uncles. They ended up telling a bunch of stories about them growing up. It was fun to hear all of them. Around 10 that night we went and played Jail Break. It was a blast. Tiffany, our sister-in-law, and I would run into the trees together and try to hide. We did good the first time. But then every other time we kept getting caught. It was quite hilarious.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sunday we all woke up, packed, had breakfast, and headed out. Our drive home seemed a lot faster. We went a different way. Going there we went through Pocatello, but on the way home we went through Jackson, Wyoming and through the Teton Mountains. It was gorgeous. A little nerve racking when we got into the mountain, but it was so pretty. I'm not a big fan of heights, or going up steep hills. I don't know why. It's always made me sick. I think this was the highest I had ever been up a mountain. But I do have to admit that the view was breath taking.

Wilson, Wyoming

Going up the moutain

Going down the mountain

I'm grateful that we decided to go on this trip. It was an experience that we will always be able to have to look back on.

4th of July Weekend

We're off to The Wilson Family Reunion for our 4th of July Weekend!