Colorado Camping

This past weekend we went camping in Colorado for a couple days with my family. The best part about it was the fatty foods. I won't lie, I ate more hot dogs than Nate did.
Nate cracks me up. I had to put this picture on here because of his boots with shorts. Not to mention what appears to be church socks. Ya gotta love him!

Month of May...

The month of May will always have a significant meaning to me. Two years ago this month, I had the opportunity to go to a country in Africa, Madagascar. I am not too quick to make comments like this, but I can honestly say it changed my life. After two months of trying to convince my parents to send their only daughter to a third world country, they paid for me to go. I went for one month with seven people from BYU where we worked in an orphanage and built a kitchen for it. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think of those kids in Africa. I will always remember the month of May for this. If Nate and my work and school schedules allow us to, we hope to go to the Dominican Republic in November with a group of dentists and doctors. Here's some pictures from the trip.


Homeless...It is extremely common to see a brother the age of this kid, take care of their little brother without parents.

We taught them how to wash their hands and brush their teeth.

They wore the same clothes every day. Their clothes were donated from people around the world.

At the end of our trip, these were actually the nicest beds we slept in the whole time we were there.

Dance Concert 2008

This past weekend was a busy weekend. As some of you may know, I started dancing when I was three and have danced ever since. Since High School I have wanted to continue dancing and was glad when my good friend Emily introduced me to a studio in Orem. I have loved dancing at this particular studio and have loved the friendships I have made there. This past weekend was the yearly concert where we had two shows on friday night, and three on Saturday. My class performed five dances in each show. Although we were exhausted by the end of the last show, we had a blast. Here are some pictures of the concerts...




Me and my good buddy Elvis



Emily and I


My family after the last show

Our week in V town

This past week Nate and I have been at my parents home helping them with their house. It has been quite the process but has been fun spending time with family and friends. I have had fun helping my mom pick out decorations and furniture for the house. I never realized how much I like to tell people what they should buy. It's much easier when it's someone else's money. : ) Here are some pictures of what we've accomplished so far. I didn't take many pics so these are the only ones I had to work with. I'll post more later when it's finished. Hope everyone is doing well and for some, enjoying life after finals!


Only a sister could think this rotten kid was cute!




First rooms we cleaned and started putting together

Last night we set up our good friends Robbie and Whitney. We went out to eat and then to Comedy Sports. Robbie is a typical Ute fan (we try not to hold that against him) and hates coming to Provo. So when he pulls into Provo and is about to pick Whitney up, a cop pulls him over for not fully stopping at a stop sign and gives him a ticket. We have officially decided we are bad luck when it comes to run-ins with the law. Not only that, Robbie now hates Cougar town even more!

Salt Lake 5k

Yesterday we ran another 5k with my little brother and our friend Emily. I was very proud of Nate who ran it in under 22 minutes. For our next race, we want to run a 10K so if anyone knows of any, please let us know!

The day my husband got arrested...

So last week I left Nate and Tyler Howells at home playing the WII while I went to the grocery store. While driving home, I called Nate a couple times to help me bring in the groceries but he did not answer. When I got home, the lights were all turned off and no one was home. For the next couple hours, I called Nate and Tyler trying to figure out where they were. I ended up calling my brother-in-law and all he said was "we are in Heber hanging out, i'll have Nate call you," and then hung up. Thirty minutes later, Nate called me telling me he got arrested. I immediately started laughing because since we've been married, this is about the only thing I can think of that fits in the "irresponsible category." To be honest, it actually makes me feel better about myself.

In 2005, Nate went ice fishing and got a ticket for fishing with two poles but only had a one pole fishing permit. To make a long story short, he forgot to pay the ticket and last week proved they hadn't forgotten about it. Two policemen showed up at our door, put Nate in handcuffs and transported him all the way to the Heber jail. While there, they booked him into jail and took mug shots (all with the handcuffs still on.) My brother-in-law and Tyler had to drive to Heber and bail him out which cost $250. I now know why my bro-in-law was so shady on the phone. Moral of the story... before getting married, do a background check on your future husband, you never know what's in their past! I am now officially married to a convict!

Operation Smile 5K Race

Yesterday we ran a 5K up Provo canyon. It was definitely no ordinary 5k race. After starting the race, we quickly realized a good part of the race was up a mountain. I am happy to say I did not finish last, nor did I finish (as Nate would say) in the "fatty forties." Our next race is in three weeks in Salt Lake. We are both really looking forward to it.

Ice Fishing at Strawberry Reservoir

I've decided finally to make my debut on this blog, and since this is my first attempt I'm hoping I don't screw things up somehow. My buddy DJ Radmacher and I left at the butt-crack of dawn (translation, 5 am) to make the 90 minute trek up to Strawberry. We got up there and onto the ice right before the sun came up. We rigged up our poles, drilled a few holes with our ice auger, and began fishing. The day ended 10 hours later with DJ catching a total of 5, and myself coming in with a total of 9, and a nasty sun burn.

Weekend in Vegas

This past weekend we went to Vegas for the Mountain West Conference men's basketball championship where we met up with Nate's parents, brother and sister. While lying in bed, listening to Wednesday fiesta night in the apartment next to us, we decided to be spontaneous and leave early for Vegas at 12:30 a.m. We had a lot of fun in the car that night. Besides the insane UNLV fans, it was a great weekend!

Taco Soup

This soup is for nights when you don't have a lot of time to cook (although it appears to your husbands you've spent hours on it.) It is seriously so easy and so good!! I've made this soup three times in the last two weeks because apparently Nate can't get enough of it. All you have to do is open up can's and pour in!

1 lb. ground Beef
1/4 cup onion (cook in meat)
1 packet ranch seasoning
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cans kernel corn
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 can Italian petite diced tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with mild chili peppers
1/2 cup sugar (I always put more sugar in because we love the sweet flavor)

Brown ground beef and drain (unless using lean beef.) Add rest of ingredients. Cook on med-low for a few hours unless wanting to eat right away

Serve with chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese

Dr. Seuss Day at School

For part of my major I go to different elementary schools and work with different classes. This semester I'm working with this particular class. Today was "Dr. Seuss day." The children wore their pajama's and we read and watched Dr. Seuss books and movies. Anyways I thought these pictures were too cute not to share.

Snow Mobile Weekend

This past weekend we went to Vernal and took my parents snow mobiles out a couple days we were there. We had so much fun. At one point Nate and my older brother thought it would be fun to take them off jumps. Let's just say they are out of control when they get together. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Our History

For our first post, I thought I would tell our history. Nate teases me that I'm cheesy so after this, I'll try and keep the cheese to a minimum. We have been married for a year and two months now and have enjoyed every minute of it. From the second we met, we hit it off. Still to this day, Nate think's I was the one who pursued him. I will probably let him continue to think that. We started dating in April of 2006. Shortly after, I left for Africa on a humanitarian trip. While there, I missed him so much and couldn't wait to see him. This was pretty rare for me so I knew I really must like him. The second I walked off the plane, things fell right into place. We spent so much time together that summer and fall and took several trips together with our families. We were married December 29, 2006 in the Salt Lake Temple. It has been so great being married to him. He keeps me in line, and I keep him in line. It works out great!