We're getting out of town!

So, we got our tax refund money now, and we decided to FINALLY go to Bakersfield, CA where Caleb grew up! We're going in a couple of weeks, and it will be great! I can't wait to go and enjoy the sun! We are going to hit the beach while we are that close though! That will be nice. I haven't been to the beach in a long while. I've got 10 lbs before I will be bathing suit ready, but I'm excited regardless!

In other news, Caleb still hasn't found work, and I'm doing what I can to keep busy at the salon! Jewel is active as ever, and doing great.

We were watching The Princess Bride earlier this week, and we got to thinking. We realized, that they just don't make movies like they used to. Most of the movies that become classics now are action flicks, that can be too intense for younger children. My parents let us watch The Princess Bride when we were young, because they had edited the parts they thought were too intense for us. (Just most of the R.O.U.S. fight, and parts of the sword fight at the end.) I wish people would start making movies like that again. It would be great!

Valentine's Day

So, I'm finally taking the time to blog about our Valentine's Day! I had the day off work, so we got to spend all day together.

Caleb has a meeting he goes to every Saturday morning, and I go with him when I'm not working, so we decided to share the love and buy doughnuts for all the guys! A few didn't show up, so one of the guys got to take the extras home, because the last thing we need hanging around our house right now are doughnuts!

Then we went home, and made a lovely lunch of Top Ramen. So much love! :) Then we spent the afternoon cuddling on the couch watching lovey movies. Well, first we finished watching my Valentine's present that I got early. I love the sitcom Reba, and Caleb got me the newest season out. I'm just waiting on the last one now. So we finished the last couple of episodes, and then we watched A Walk to Remember, because I hadn't made Caleb watch that one with me yet. To his surprise he liked it. He hated Charly, so I thought he wouldn't like this.

Then we decided to splurge a little bit and go to our favorite Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It's cheap dinner, so it's hard to argue with on our budget. They were giving out Fried Ice Cream to everyone at the restaurant, so we both tried it. We both weren't crazy about it, but now we can say that we've had it! :)

We finished of the night going Country Dancing in Pleasant Grove, where we kind of met. We showed up early to help out, so that we could get in for free! (Can't argue with Free!) We spent the night dancing away, and it was wonderful! Towards the end of the time we were there, they played our song, "I Cross My Heart" by George Strait. This moment was absolutely perfect! It was just like on our wedding day. He was singing to me, and nothing else in the room mattered. That moment was all about Caleb and I. Everyone else in the room was a blur. It's just like the movies. I couldn't have asked for a better end to our night!

Then we went home, and cuddled up in bed. I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's! He topped it all off by giving me a darling Snoopy card, and wrote a very sweet note in it! As the song so cutely states..."I could not ask for more."

Love is in the Air...

Last night Caleb and I took my tip money from that day, and did something that we haven't done in months....WE WENT COUNTRY DANCING!!! As we were there, I was reminded of all the reasons that I fell in love with Caleb. When we are dancing, he gives me my favorite smiles, and he gets and extra twinkle in his eye. It's like there's no one else in the room. I love it. He's not the best dancer I've ever danced with, but he is DEFINATELY my favorite! He so considerate of me when we are there, it's really nice.

Our life is truly full of love and laughter, despite everything that is going on around us. I always know that Caleb loves me, and he makes me laugh on a daily basis. I honestly wouldn't trade him for anything on this earth. He does so much that I don't thank him enough for. I will do better as his wife and remember to thank him.

When I met Caleb, my life absolutely changed for the better, despite all the crap that we have been through. I can say we have been through hell and back together. I would never wish anything of that on anyone. If I would have gone through that with any other person, I honestly would have gotten out while I had the chance. Caleb is amazing, and I'm so lucky to have his love and support. I dont know what I would do without him in my life.

There are so many different thins that I love about him. I think I will make a small list.
1. I love how much he loves me.
2. I love his hugs, and the comfort that they give.
3. I love that he's short, because it makes him the perfect height.
4. I love his kisses.
5. I love his sense of humor.
6. I love that he loves animals.
7. I love that he likes to cuddle with me.
8. I love that he loves what he does for work, even though I don't understand it much.
9. I love that he helps me with the dishes.
10. I love that he is working so hard to get back to the temple, and to provide a good living for us and our future family.

Happy Valentine's Day Caleb, I love you so much!

One year

So, it's been one year since I made the switch to my current salon. I have to say, I'm very happy with the switch I made. I love the people I work with, and I love the atmosphere of this salon! I also like that it is much closer to my current home. Driving to American Fork every day was just too financially straining. I did really enjoy the people that I worked with at my last salon, and I actually miss working with them.
Metropolitan Salon is great and beautiful. We have just undergone a facelift, and the salon looks amazing! Everyone is energized with the new look, and everything is great! I really love what I do for work, and I wouldn't want to change professions any time soon. I'm hoping to make a little more money this year, but we will see!

A Weekend of Family

So, we had a very nice weekend! Saturday night, we got to spend a good share of it with the Bell side of our family, and it was a lot of fun. We played lots of games, had tacos, and got to catch up with family. Autumn was here with her family, and I haven't seen them in over 4 years, so it was nice to visit with them

I finally got to meet this little guy,

And he loved me SO MUCH, that he did this

on my pants! Gotta love the little guy!

We also had the chance to see my dad play the Wii. It was quite entertaining!

I think they should get one! :)

Before I tell the next part, I should remind people, (or tell them if they don't know) that Caleb was adopted by his parents when he was 27 days old.

We found out on Friday night that Caleb has 2 half sisters. One of them found him on Facebook, and added him as a friend, and wants to get to know him. Caleb is excited and curious to get to know her, so we will keep you posted on what's going on with that. Right now he's not wanting to meet them or anything, but he would like to know a little more about his birth family for geneology puropses.

Peanut Blart and Jelly

So, Friday night Caleb and I decided we wanted to go out, and our friend Reggie joined us. We ate at Subway, (trying to keep healthy, and the new 9 grain bread is really tasty!) and then we went to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It is HILARIOUS!!! They didn't show all of the funniest parts of the movie like they do in a lot of commercials for those kinds of movies. We had so much fun! It's not a movie that's going to change your life by any means, but it's definately a good laugh. It's rated PG, so it's not raunchy or anything either. That I really enjoyed! This movie was written and produced by Kevin James and Adam Sandler. It is great!

On another note, I've been down with sickness this week. Now that I'm better, poor Caleb is sick. He was so attentive and sweet to take care of me like he did, and now I've gotten him sick, and I'm so sad about it! He's just gonna sleep a lot so that he can get better.

Hope you are all doing well! Go see the movie for a good laugh!

Sorry so long!

Things have been so crazy in the last few weeks! It's definately time to catch up!

So, Christmas was good for us! We spent Christmas Eve with the Ellison clan and got to see how everyone was doing on the challenge. Everyone is doing well from what I saw! Christmas Day was perfect. We just got each other a couple of little things, and called it good. My parents gave Caleb a box full of things he loves, and I got a Cricut! It was a great little Christmas!

We rang in the new year at Gen and Mike's house. They are always such great hosts! We really enjoy spending time with them! Caleb had been sick, and was finally starting to feel better by then, so it was really nice! Lots of seven layer dip and tacos!

So, with the weight loss challenge, Caleb has lost about 13 and I've lost 27 so far. We are really excited! We are getting healthy, and that's what we really wanted. I like that most of my pants aren't fitting as well now, but at the same time I hate it, because we can't afford for me to get a new pair yet. :) Oh well! I'm just going to have to get really good at altering all of my clothes!

This last Thursday my Mother in Law Kathie had knee replacement surgery. She's been in the hospital until this morning, so we have been going back and forth a lot! I'm happy to say that she is doing really well right now. It's still going to be a long road to perfect recovery, but she is doing great for the fact she only had surgery 5 days ago!

Love you all to bits! I'll be better about this! I promise!

I'm dreaming of a White....

Oh, wait! It doesn't look like I'm going to have to dream about it! It's been snowing quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, and it's snowing as I write this! It's looking very likely that we will have a white christmas this year!
So, it's time to update people! Caleb's toe is doing better. Still a little tender, but it's not black and blue, or swollen anymore! We have been crazy busy trying to get Christmas together. With little money, we have been able to think a lot more about why we love Christmas. Yes, gifts are nice, and being able to spoil people you usually can't is always a plus. But really, our favorite part of Christmas is being able to see our families. We get to spend time with most of the Ellison's on Christmas Eve, with the Mickey's that are here on Christmas Day, and then we get to see the Bell's on the 29th for Grandpa's birthday! That's the most important part of the holidays to us, so we wanted to let you all know that we love you, and if we don't get to see you this year, we are still thinking of you!
So, while Caleb's dad was still in town, we exchanged one of our gifts last night. I got him The Tales of Beatle the Bard by J.K Rowling. (Harry Potter is what got Caleb to love reading, so I thought he would enjoy the short read.) Caleb got me Josh Groban's Noel. My mom burned me a copy last year and I listened to it until it was so scratched that you couldn't even hear Little Drummer Boy anymore, so Caleb bought me my own copy. He's so sweet!
We hope you all have happy holidays! We will try to post more, but life gets so crazy, it may be another catch up post!

Ok, time to catch up...

To start off, Caleb is still looking for work! It's getting really frustrating for him because he will call back not long after he puts in an application, and they will have already filled the position. Oh well, here's to hoping something works out soon!

Next, Caleb let me play with his hair a little, and we got him a new style. What do you think?

I like it personally, but I know it's not everyone's taste

So, on Tuesday, Caleb and I were both at home in the morning, I was getting ready to go to work, and he was going to go get in the shower and start his day. Well, I decided to chase him, and this is what happened.

Yes, that is a broken pinky toe you are looking at. I still feel so awful about it!

Last night, Caleb and I, along with my father in law Don, had the chance to attend the dress rehersal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert! It was amazingly beautiful! They sang so many great Christmas songs, and they had amazing guests. They had Edward Herrmann(Richard on Gilmore Girls, FDR in Annie, the snobby husband to Goldie Hawn in Overboard) as a narrator, and their guest singer was Brian David Mitchell (Singing voice from The Prince of Egypt's song Through Heaven's Eyes) who both did amazing things! It was truly a wonderful experience, and I have to thank my parents for handing over their tickets to us when they found out they couldn't go! I really wish they could of. It was so great!

And last but not least, Mom requested a new picture to hang in the living room, so my good friend Nate, who takes all of our lovely pictures except for our wedding ones, took us out for another picture excursion, and here are the pictures from it. Enjoy!

Hope you are all doing well!

A year ago yesterday...

I married the most wonderful man! He's my best friend, and he is so good to me. He makes me laugh every day, and he takes care of me and lets me know how much he loves me. We are getting close to our goal of being able to go to the temple. Hopefully only a few more months! But, I still wouldn't trade being married to Caleb for anything in the world. Here are some pics just for fun!