Our New Desk

I got into yard selling this summer while Rob was working and going to school. I bought this desk for $20. It was painted black, but the paint job wasn't very high quality so Rob and I decided to repaint it.

 I found out the hard way that stripping paint is hard work. I started out stripping it by hand then gave up. Our home teachers came and saw my unfinished work and one of the overed us a eletric saw. We finished the desk a week later. We are so grateful for Brother Donaldson.

 We got primer and spray paint from Home Depot and picked out new hardware for the drawers. The old handles were made of wood and were very ugly. I tore them off before painting.

Rob took special interest in painting the table. I wonder if he didn't think I was capable, but I didn't mind sitting back and watching. He did a good job, and he was fast too. If it weren't for him, I would still be working on the desk. 

After a lot of hard work, mostly Rob, our desk is finally complete. We were kinda scared about how the color would look, but when we were done we really liked. it. It is like a deep beige/light brown color. I think it was called toupe. It was a fun project.

End Product: cant' hardly recognize it from what it was to
begin with.

Summer Vacation with John and Afton

Monument Valley

Navajo National Monument

For our summer vacation, Rob and I went to visit Rob's parents on their mission in the Navajo Indian Reservation. They were so nice to show us around.

Monument Valley

Rattle snake we passed on our hike to the Navajo National Monument. Robert
was petrified of this thing.

John and Afton were so nice to guide us around the Navajo Indian Reservation

Navajo National Monument

John and Afton took us to Monument Valley. They treated us to lunch at Goldings, the head quarters of a trading center that introduced films in the valley. It was really fun. Then John toured us through the Valley. We kind of roughed up his car in the process, but at least we got out. =]

 

 The Navajo National Monument is an Indian ruin carved into a large recess in the rock cliff. It was a long hike down, but we finally reached the look out. In order to get this close up we had to take the picture through the binoculars they had at the look out. It was beautiful.

Robert and his Dad on the hike to the Monument

 We enjoyed our time with Rob's parents. It was neat to see what they are doing on their mission and to see some of the people they've helped. They sure are neat people. I am so glad to be a part of this family.

Fun in the Kitchen

    Having my own kitchen has helped me to get in touch with my "inner chef." This post is not a bragging session on my new found talents, for that would be extremely exagerated. Rather it is meant to highlight a few of my successful dishes aside from my many flops. Poor Robert has been so good to stick out my cooking while I try to find my footing as a homemaker. He tries everything I make and always says he likes it. Though he doesn't know this yet, I can always tell what he likes by how much he eats. He sure is a sweet man.



Slow cooked roast beef with ginger ale, boiled red potatoes, and side salad. It took 8 hours! But well worth it. 



Left over roast beef sandwiches with mozzerella, lettuce, onion, and tomato. Not very innovative, but extremely good.



This was one of my best turn outs. I tossed cooked spagehtti in a pan with a little hot olive oil, added tomatoes and spinach then let it simmer a bit. (I may have added oregano...?) Before serving I topped with parmesan cheese.



Robert was actually the mastermind of this beautiful dish. Tacos dorados I think is what it's called. The middle of the tortillas are filled with mashed potatoes then fried in a thin layer of oil. Top with your choice of veggies, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. They looked so pretty when he was done. He also makes delicious tacos carne a'sada.

EaSteR

Celebrating Easter with just Robert was definitely a new experience for me. It was my first holiday away from my immediate family. This was a great bonding experience for my new, however small, family. I hope to always remember this Easter. It was a modest celebration, with a few gifts and thoughtful words. Robert got a new razor and I got a water bottle. We each picked out our favorite candy and arranged it with the gifts in a makeshift basket. Robert was so cute about it. My precious 4 year old husband made me the happiest Easter Bunny that morning.

 Our Easter dinner was quite a treat for us. We had shepards pie. Even with elk meat substituted for the hamburger, it was delicious.

What a cheez! Yes, he is like this all the time =]



Our First Place, Home Sweet...Mold?

    Our first apartment together was a lovely 1 bedroom basement apartment in Cedar City (1050 N 77 W Apt B). The walls were knotty pine wood paneling and cement. The layout was kind of funny, our bedroom had a tiny closet that Rob chose to use and in the living room there was 2 large closets which is where I kept my clothes. I liked the arrangement : ).  



Our Living Room



    It was definitely a humble abode. We had no couch, no air conditioning, no cable, and no bath tub. To sit back and relax, we used camp chairs in front of the tv. It was slightly difficult when visitors came over. The only source of heat we had was a shop space heater that made the walls sweat. Despite all that, we were just happy to have a place to live and call our own. Looking back at it, it was a cute apartment.



The Bedroom



The Tiny Kitchen: the kitchen table was a Christmas gift to ourselves. It barely fit, we couldn't open the fridge door entirely.



   My favorite feature in the apartment was in the kitchen. I didn't take a picture of it and I wish I would have. The stove was a miniture stove that was half the size of the average stove. Amazingly it still had 4 ranges and a full sized oven (it could actually fit a cookie sheet if placed in sideways). However, if I wanted to use a large pot the ranges next to it were not accessible...a minor inconvenience for two people.

     This blissful apartment experience was unfortunately short lived. About 3 months into our happy living arrangments, we discovered mold on our bedroom walls. The landlords were nice to come in and clean it up, but a week or two after that we discovered more. This time it was in the kitchen, on the walls above the counters. Being such a tiny kitchen most of the counter space was taken up by bowls, toasters and the like, that covered the walls. We wouldn't had even discovered the mold if it hadn't started growing out underneath the things on the counter. Ugh we were horrified!!! We scowered the rest of the house and found mold in almost all the closest and even under the head of our bed growing an inch out of the carpet. Understandably...we had to move.





Our storage closet: As you can see most of our boxes were covered in black and green mold. Thankfully we had most things in boxes and so we just threw the boxes away. However there were a few food items that couldn't be salvaged. A 10 lb bag of wheat flour was one of those items : (



Honeymoon in Vegas



Bellagio: Entrance into the Conservatory

    Our honeymoon in Las Vegas was a blast! We stayed at the enormous Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. It was a beautiful.

    Our first day we walked the strip and saw the night time shows outside the casinos. I think our favorite one was Belagio's fountains playing to Christmas music. We found out that Belagio had an indoor conservatory that was decorated for the season with polar bears, penguins, and a giant Christmas tree. Rob had a lot more fun than I thought he would posing for the pictures. The goof :)

Robert posing at Bellagio Conservatory. The polar bear is made
entirely with poinsettias.  

    One of our fondest memories of that first day was eating at Serendipity's. It was very cold, and my feet needed a rest so Rob suggested we get a pretzel. While standing in line, a worker ran up to us with a sign. He handed the sign to Rob and said "it's your lucky day!" It read, the early bird catches the worm, but the last in line gets a free frozen hot chocolate. I guess Serendipity's found out that in order to close their shop they needed to designate who the last customer was. What good timing!! As we collected our pretzel, cheese, and frozen hot chocolate (a $20 purchased that we got for $9!), the cashier told us, "try gambling, it must be your lucky day." Though it was could and wet, we happily ate our frozen prize under a heater of a neighboring restaruant. We didn't try our luck with gambling that day (thought maybe gambling on a Sunday wasn't a good idea). Instead we hoped it would hold out for another day.   

Taken outside Ceasar's Palace. A Buddhist alter made
of glass. We saw many people kneeling and praying
 in front of it. 

   

    Monday was a very fun day. We toured New York, New York, and Robert bought me Mandalay Bay playing cards because he insisted I learn to play Black Jack. We walked down the strip again, this time in pouring rain. Thankfully a nice woman sold us an umbrella which was probably our best investment on this trip. While trying to find cover from the rain, we got lost in the new Cosmopolitan hotel. Boy, is that hotel ritzy!! We spent over an hour trying to find an exit!  

Statue of Liberty made of Jelly Belly's. NY,NY

  

    We loved M&M World and the Coke Factory!!! We had so much fun there. At M&M World we took pictures of all the M&Ms and bought a 2 lb bag of assorted M&Ms (almond, peanut, and peanut butter). We weren't planning on buying so much, but we got carried away at the huge dispensers that dispensed the candy in any color you wanted. The best $20 we spent the entire trip.



Rob posing with his favorite M&M



    

    The Coke Factory was our favorite of the two. We bought Coke from Around the World, which was a variety of the most popular coke products sold in different countries. We got a small sample of sixteen different coke products for only $8. Our favorites were a toss up between Monsona Son from Mexico, Blackberry something from an African country, and Lemon Zest from Great Brittain. The worst was a beverage called Beverly from Italy. It tasted like a carbonated weed. Oh the look on Rob's face when he took a sip of that one was priceless.



Coke Factory (that white/clear liquid in the middle
is the dreaded Beverly)



    In the conjoined basement of the two buildings there was a huge kid arcade. We spent 2 hours playing air hockey, basketball, and chance games while waiting for the Tournament of Kings to start. It was so much fun!

   Oh and the Tournament of Kings! Ok, so it was a little kids play, but it was still amazing. We some how lucked out with front row seats. This was controversial as to whether they were good seats or not. On one hand you had an amazing view and the actors actually socialized with those in the audience. On the other hand, the dust kicked up by the horses and sword fighting was not so pleasant. Anyway along with the joisting and sword fighting we were served a wonderful dinner. We were served an entire hen each, biscuit, vegetables, and a delicious soup you were encouraged to slurp (no silverware provided!!!). Pepsi was included =). It was a very memorable night.

   

Rob holding his $40 ticket

    Before entering the Tournament of Kings, we wandered through Excaliber trying to blow some time. I decided to visit the ladies room. While waiting for me, Rob decided to do a little gambling. He sat down at the slot machine right outside the ladies restroom (only in Vegas), put in one dollar and......ding ding ding ding ding Rob won $40. I come out to Rob grinning ear to ear next to the slot machine, ticket in hand. Who knew Rob was a gambler. Thank goodness he had to sense to stop while he was ahead.

   The next day we took a trip to the Hoover Dam. Rob loved the tour of the electrical aspects of the dam as well as the visitors center. I had to drag him out. I had no idea how much he loved history and engineering. 



Pawn Stars!!!



   On our way back to Las Vegas, we got lost yet again. We got off the freeway in Henderson to find a restaurant because we were starving. It was almost impossible to find a restaurant! When we finally did, we were halfway across town with very few ideas on how to get back to Las Vegas. Luckily our waitress, who was also perplexed on how we had gotten so far off the beaten path, directed us to a highway that would get us back to the city.

    Once we safely found our way back to Las Vegas, we visited the Gold and Silver Paw Shop. Yes, the location of the famous series Pawn Stars. We did not see any of the famous characters, except the huge guard you see in the series who guards the front door. The shop was so tiny!!! There was a line out the door, and you had to shuffel through the store in a single file line. In the middle of the shop was basically a gift store full of memorabilia (mostly of Chum). We had to buy T-shirts and a little Chum bracelet for Logan.

      We ended our trip with a visit to the Las Vegas Temple. What a beautiful temple! And what a perfect ending to a wonderful honeymoon. Thank you, Robby!!!    

Las Vegas Temple







The Start of Our New Life.....Together

 On the early morning of 17 December 2011, Robert and I were wed in the beautiful Manti Temple. At 9:45 a.m., surrounded by friends and family, we were sealed for life and all eternity. My heart soared with the joy that enveloped me that day. It was the start of a new life. A start of a new family. And the the start...of us.

It has been a strange transition from the single to married life, but we are enjoying every minute of it.The wedding was everything we had hoped it to be, and we are so happy. We are so grateful to our family and friends who dedicated so much time and effort to making our wedding so memorable.

 Our cake was lovely, and it tasted just as lovely. We were glad that we went with chocolate. We heard that traditional wedding cake was not very good, so we went with our favorite instead. All the cascadeing flowers were real. They added a sweet aroma to the reception, and they looked so pretty!

 

To the right you can see one of the many contributions that my family made to make our wedding the greatest. This particularly, beautiful arrangement was made by my new sister-in-law Rachael. She is so talented! In addition to this, my mom and dad put in hours of their time furnishing old doors (pictured behind the cake) and a giant chapel window that we used as the center piece in the reception line. I can't iterate enough how grateful I am to all who made my day the most wonderful!

 To the left are two of the most influential people in my life.I had the honor of having them both at my wedding. They are truly great individuals, and I exist because of them. They both gave me life. Words cannot portray the great debt I owe these outstanding women. At this momentous time in my life, it would be shameful not to recognize my mother and birthmother.

To my new mother-in-law, like mother like son, and to that I am truly grateful. I have never seen a son who had more respect and love for his mother. I see this love and respect shown in almost every aspect of his life. It is a great reflection of Afton and how she has raised her family. I am so happy to be a part of it.