Happy Birthday!

I need to take a minute, and say Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people! First, Happy Birthday Mom! Even though I didn't get to share your big landmark birthday with you, I was thinking about you all day, and I'm so glad that you are my mom! YaY for being Forever 24! :)
Also, Happy Birthday Tyler! You have always been a great big brother, and I couldn't have asked for a better, or mor protective one. Thank you for always being willing to do crazy things for me. (Hence the reason I chose this picture.) I love you and miss you so much! Happy 26th!

Dear Friends and Family,

I just wanted to let you all know that I have decided to take a long break from doing hair. I'm starting to feel burned out doing it, and I don't want to feel that way forever. I have a couple of other career dreams that I would like to chase before I get started having my family. I am looking at going back to school to go into psychology, or going into being a wedding planner. The wedding planner line is the one that I'm looking most seriously at.
I still will be doing hair for friends and family. I just won't be working in a salon for a while. I will be done at my current salon in a week. I am very excited for my new adventures! So, if anyone knows of any work in Utah County, please let me know! I have great receptionist skills! :)

Night Out

So, we had some friends invite us over for a romantic night out

after our major event fell through.

Monica and Chad had us over to their place for dinner and games.

We got all dressed up and had a good time.

My mom is amazing! She helped me make the dress that I wore that night. (Okay, so mom did most of the work because the pattern ended up being trickier than it looked.)

Bottom line: It was a fun night, and I have an amazing mom! Thanks Monica and Mom!

New Moon Trailer

Ok, I have to admit first, that I am a geek. I set the MTV Movie Awards to record JUST so that I could see the premier of the New Moon trailer. I am SO excited for this movie now! I had to watch the trailer like 4 times last night, and I've watched it twice today. I'm nit picking it. (Again, refer to the opening geek comment!) I'm excited that they finally have the proper person in the makeup department. Everyone looks how they should now. The Special effects are great in this one too! Very realistic! Check out the trailer! It's ALL OVER youtube!

Enduring

So, lately I have been thinking a whole lot about enduring. As most of you know, Caleb has been out of work for 7 months. We are really lucky in the fact that he qualifies for unemployment. Cobra was too expensive, and so we haven't had health insurance for the last 7 months. It's been tough, because that means we pay in full all of our prescriptions. It puts a financial strain on us, and I wish I could change it. It's very likely we are just going to pick up our own policy, because we never know when this will happen again, and I really hate being without insurance. Also, my work is starting to slow down a little bit. It's harder now for me to make up the difference of what Caleb was making. Luckily we have eliminated a bunch of debt we had, 1,500 dollars worth of what we have anyway. We are both looking for work. I'm only in my salon for 3 days a week right now, because it cuts my expenses back about 200 dollars, to help make up the difference. If anyone hears of anything, part time or full time in Utah County, please please let us know.
Back to enduring. I know that I can endure a lot of things that I never thought I could by this point in my life. Medical problems and much more that I won't go into. I know that without Caleb and without the Savior, I'm not sure I could have endured things as well as I have, and I'm grateful for that every day. I also have a great support system in my family and friends.
Thank you all. We love you!

Memorial Day Weekend

So, over Memorial Day weekend, we went to good ole' Burley to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bell. Aunt Melba decided to come down and join us too! It was good to see her! It had been about 2 years since I had seen her, and it was great to get in some dumb luck and learn Dominoes, (which I am now addicted too! Thanks Melba!)

The real reason for the trip up there, was to get their sprinkler system finished. We did part of it last year. But there was still TONS to do! There was lots of help! Larry, Alan, David, Caleb, Skylar, Kerry, and Dad got it all done! YaY!

We had the most help from the lovely Ditch Witch run by Alan!

Grandpa couldn't help but to get off the porch and help no matter how much we tried to

convince him otherwise.


And here's the peanut gallery providing the food and drinks for the day!

Although we did have Larry take a time out from digging...


..and have him help out in the kitchen! Love the Apron!

Then on Sunday after church, we decided to go out to Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls. Rendi and Alan went around Mothers Day, and it was great, so we decided to go. Sadly the water was running low that day, but it was still really pretty!

The one drawback to the day was that it was freezing! The wind really picked up through that canyon, and we were all doing everything we could to stay warm!

*Note Larry's Hair! Proof of the wind!*

Larry and Louise also brought their new little baby Mollie on the trip! It was really nice to have her there, because it kept me from thinking of Jewel! She's a doll and it was great to puppy sit while they were busy helping out.

It really was a fun trip! We really need to get together more as a family, when we can just enjoy being together without all the extra work! :)

Hope to see you all soon, especially those who weren't there!

Digging the Trench

So yesterday, Caleb and I spent most of the day helping Dad dig a trench so that they were hooked up to the city's pressurized irrigation. It was tough work! I forgot how hard it was to dig trenches, especially at our house with all the tree roots and rocks!

As Caleb was digging we came across this...

and had to dig it out.


We decided that it was Fred Flinstone's Bowling Ball, that

had been buried in my parents front yard

for who knows how long!

Now I want to go bowling...

Bees Game

So, Jodie sent me a text yesterday at about 4:30, asking if Caleb and I wanted to go to the Bees game with her and her little family! Caleb was beside himself! He's been begging me to go to a baseball game for weeks now. So we got ready and went to Salt Lake, parked in the VIP parking, and went up to her works suite to enjoy the game!

Caleb and I enjoying the 7th inning stretch

Kinsley enjoying a cup in Jodie's lap
The view from the suite we were in

Jodie and Kinsley

Ah, Baseball! One of those sports you just have to love! We had a great time,

and can't wait to go to another game!

A Weekend with Friends

So, Friday was Carrie and Nate's Annual Kite Flying BBQ. It was cold, but quite fun. Great kite flying weather! But really, we enjoyed ourselves. It was really nice to spend time with everyone there. Good food and good times. Carrie and Nate had invited us over to there place for a movie after the bbq, because they still wanted to catch up more. Well, we didn't ever get around to a movie unless you talking about us watching a few clips from Britan's Got Talent on Youtube! :) Carrie has turned me on to couponing, and I think I can really save a ton of money with it.

Then on Saturday, it was my cousin's wife to be's bridal shower. Emily is great, and we had a good time being up there with family and friends. It was really nice to see Grandma and Rendi too.

Then mom and I went and saw Hannah Montana, the movie. Caleb had said he didn't really want to go, so mom took me. It was really quite cute! I'm a sap and I cried. I love the realationship that they portray between her and her dad. It reminds me a lot of the relationship I have with my daddy. I hope and pray that my kids have that kind of a relationship with Caleb and I both.

Travis and Amy got a hold of us, and let us know that they had just moved back. They wanted to go country dancing that night, and invited us along. It was just like old times. You would hardly know that they had been down in Arizona for 2 years. We really enjoyed dancing and being able to catch up with them. We are going to do what we can to see them more often!

I've got a feeling...

...that our kids are going to be like this with their daddy too!