Two Years

Tyler and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary today.
I can hardly believe it.

Being married is nothing like I pictured it being—but maybe that’s good. And 2 years doesn’t quite seem to accurately describe how long it feels like we have been married—again not a bad thing.

Ok, so what I mean to say is these last two years have been amazing! I loved being married and Tyler, I love you! You take such good care of me. You are one of the most kind, patient people I know and I and so happy that I am the person you chose to spend eternity with.

Happy Anniversary!

We have arrived!

After 3.5 years of hard work—blood, sweat, tears (on my part)—I am proud to announce that Tyler has completed his college education!

Tyler has been going to school non-stop for 16 months/4 semesters. He has worked hard to juggle both his jobs along with school and church and has done an amazing job!

We will have to wait until May to see Tyler walk with the rest of his class but cap and gown or not he is now and official college graduate.

Congratulations Tyler! I am so proud of you!

Thanksgiving-- Take Two

We are lucky enough to have family nearby so I have never had to make my own Thanksgiving feast. But sadly this means no leftover turkey sandwiches! And, as everybody knows, one of the best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers.

So, this year Tyler and I decide try cooking our own mini version of Thanksgiving. I figured I need to learn to roast a turkey and I would prefer to not learn when I am hosting my first Thanksgiving. So, we collected turkey coupons and bought a moderately sized turkey—18.25 lbs. (Believe it or not this was the smallest turkey we could find!)

I researched turkey roasting methods and settled on trying out Martha’s. I really hate handling raw meat so I made Tyler prepare the bird, dispose of the giblets & neck, etc. We made our basting sauce and commenced cooking at 3:30pm. We basted, and basted and basted. We repositioned the thermometer and were very worried that each time we did the temperature made drastic changes. But, none the less, after 4.5 hours of fretting we deemed the turkey done.

I am pretty proud of us—he turned out to be quite juicy and delicious. We rounded out our meal with boxed potatoes, stove top stuffing, gravy, and of course pineapple bread pudding. (Yum! Thanks Allyson!).

Boy that turkey was a lot of work but it was well worth it.

Bunny Wrangling

As I pulled into the driveway this evening I saw something white darted out of the back yard and into the bushes on the opposite side of the drive. I got out of the car and saw the cutest fluffy white bunny making its way through a small gap in our fence and into our neighbor's yard. Our landlord lives next door and I knew the bunny wasn't his so naturally I began to wonder where he had come from-- he was far too well groomed to be a 'wild' bunny-- I knew he must be someone's lost pet. I felt so bad that some kid had lost their pet.

I called Tyler over and we watched the bunny and tried to decide what to do. It was very cold, getting colder every min and I knew it would be too cold for the bunny to make it through the night outside. Tyler I am managed to coax the bunny back over to our yard. We sat and pet him for a while--he was so soft, and such a sweetie he was content to sit there and be pet all night. Then we made a huge mistake-- we tried to pick him up. He took off and man was he fast! Tyler chased him 3 houses down the street before he managed to corner him. Tyler began corralling the bunny back toward our house as I tried to decide which neighbor he belonged to.

I walked two houses down the road and knocked. The woman that answered peaked her head out and I said, "Do you by chance own a white bunny?" "Yes" she answered looking confused. "Well I found him in my yard about 20 minutes ago. My husband and I tried to pick him up but he took off--he is now shooing the bunny back this way." The woman thanked me for our concern and came out to get him. Apparently our little friend is quite the escape artist-- this is the 4th time he broke out so far this month!

So there we were-- three adults-- chasing and bunny back and forth trying to catch him. Tyler finally managed to corner him and gently 'wrangle' him into submission so his owner could come retrieve him. I wish I had had a camera on me-- it was hilarious. Truly, this doesn't do it justice-- the image of all of us chasing this bunny was the funniest thing i have seen all week.

Our little friend is now home safe-- I did my good deed for the week.

Bunny wrangling-- its alot harder than you think it would be-- they are fast!

Lucky for me (and our neighbor) Tyler is a top notch bunny wrangler--what an athlete!

Veteran's Day

I am so proud to be an American. What a great blessing and privilege it is to be a citizen of this country. I think I forget all too often the sacrifices that have been made that ensure me and my family the great freedoms we enjoy.

Today I want to say thank you. I am so proud of my family and friends that serve or have served this country in the armed forces and for all the others that choose to serve.

Thank you for your continued service and sacrifices.

And may God bless America!

My Husband the Romantic

I love the idea of romance but the longer I am married the more I come to understand that I am not the romantic in Tyler's and my relationship. Tyler is the sweetheart that leaves little notes in my make up bag, tucked under my pillow and into my books. He sneaks in household chores when I am not home or preoccupied with other things. And he brings home flowers for no reason at all-- isn't he just a sweetheart?!

Look at these beauties--I love gerber daises!

I totally made that...and no this is NOT an Announcement!

I never go to enrichment activities--does this make me a bad person? Its not that I don't want to be involved in my ward its just that 85% of the activities my ward has happen in the middle of that day--while I am at work--or are meant to specifically cater to the mothers and pregnant women of the ward--this is includes just about all the women in my ward just not me--and maybe 3-4 others.

Anyway, the enrichment group happened to have a sewing activity this past week, shockingly at a day and time I could attend. Of course the project was baby-centered--they were making receiving blankets--but the samples were cute so I decided to sign up. I found the cutest fabric with little pink and yellow giraffes--I Love Giraffes! The blanket turned out so cute I can't wait to make another-- I have absolutely no reason to--I have absolutely No use for baby blankets but it well help me practice my very sorely underdeveloped sewing skills.





Plus they are just so cute--see

Check That Off the List

Lists rule my life. Groceries, chores, tasks, to do items, etc. I have lists scribbled on sticky notes scattered across my desk at work and lists that pop up when I open my email. I have lists of random items and things to get at the store on my fridge, chores to complete in my planner and a myriad of other things to do written on random envelops and pieces of junk mail all over my dinner table.

In my world the list reigns supreme. I am pretty sure I inherited this from my mother. My need to organize my grocery list by department and food type; my need to organize my chore lists by length of time required to complete the task and the items’ importance. My sister says I am crazy but I love lists! Without such lists I would never get anything productive done.

I love the sense of satisfaction I get when I can cross something off—often time I find myself adding chores that I had not anticipated on tackling to my list just so I can cross them off—it feels that good. And at the end of the day, when I look at all the completed tasks I feel so good about myself and I am proud of how productive I was.

The one downside to list making—often time the list becomes too long or intensive to actually complete the tasks with the given time. For instance—every Saturday I get up and make a list of things to do that day. I have learned it is important to be as specific as possible—the more specific the easier the tasks seem and the more items to cross off.

Here was my list for Saturday: clean bathroom, change shower curtain, change sheets, wash darks, wash whites, wash towels, fold laundry, put away laundry, wipe kitchen counters, sweep kitchen, mop kitchen, dust living room, vacuum, go grocery shopping, clean out fridge, clean lamp shades…

See what I mean? Most of these items are not big but that’s not the whole list. Anyway—I am proud to say for the first time in—as long as I can remember—I crossed every item off my list. I even added and crossed off some additional items like: sort clothes for DI, organized closet and dresser drawers, shred old bills and statements, and reorganize the file box.

Unfortunately, there is already another long list in the making but that doesn’t bother me; I can’t wait to start crossing things off that one too!

Ahh.. That Feels Good

Today marks a momentous occasion—I am student loan free!! What a wonderful feeling of relief and freedom!

I have no idea how Tyler and I have managed to get my loans paid off so early—I am only in the 11^th month of repayment. But somehow, miraculously, we have been able to pay all our bills and a little something extra toward the loans and still break even—what a blessing!

We still have all of Tyler's student loans but I won’t think about that today (I will think about that tomorrow). Right now I just want to enjoy this little victory—things have been really tight and stressful lately—this little high is just what I needed. I don’t know if I will ever stop worrying about how we are going to ‘make it’ but this does instill some confidence in me that if we buckle down and stay focused we will be just fine, and just fine is okay with me.

The Sweetest Thing

Tyler and I took a whirlwind trip this past weekend—we flew out to Cali to hear my brother give his farewell talk and to be there with him and my family as he was set apart as a full time missionary for the LDS church. Eric will be serving in the Chile Concepción mission. He reports to the MTC tomorrow and will be gone for two years—my heart is aching.

I have always been very proud of my baby brother—all of us have—but I was never so proud of him than I was on Sunday as I sat with my husband, mom, gramma, and sisters listening to him speak. Suddenly I understood why the Lord calls 19 year old boys to serve and teach the gospel. I sat there and it occurred to me that Eric was no longer a baby or a goofy, moody, teenager—no, he had become a polished, refined young man.

Since it was Father’s Day Eric spoke about his Dad and his Heavenly Father. It was a touching and well planned address. As Eric spoke I watched my Dad seated on the stand and thought ‘what better Father’s Day gift could he have gotten?’ What a compliment to my Dad and Mom to have raised such an amazing kid.

And so now comes the hard part—the goodbyes—how do you say goodbye for two whole years? I am sure some heart ache will be involved and a lot of crying—my family is genetically incapable of not crying. It is a bittersweet feeling—so much happiness and sadness at the same time.

Eric, we are so proud of you and love you so much! You will be in all of our thoughts and prayers.

Elder Kuykendall, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be an amazing missionary!

Oh Summer Where Have You Gone?

I love the summer. I have endured months of snow and cold and anxiously waited for the best season of the year.

Now that it’s finally here, it seems as if something is missing. Perhaps it is that Tyler is in his 10^th consecutive month of school—with 6 months still to go. Perhaps it is that I will not be going home for a visit this year. Or maybe it’s because the weather is still confused about which month it is—I really don’t know.

Whatever it is, I am sad to say, instead of my days being packed to the bursting point with fun activities in the warm sun I find the days slowly creeping by, one day just as boring as the last.

This is going to be a long, strange summer. There is something different this year—don’t know quite what it is yet. All I can do is just continuing hoping and praying that the real summer will start soon. I dream of summers past—no responsibilities, nothing to do but lay out and soak up the sun. Will summer ever be like that again?

Warning: May cause slight discomfort, pain, swelling, or redness

Two months have come and gone since my last post so here’s what you have missed in that time: Uh…well…hmm…

Yep, I’ve got nothing. Sometimes I am utterly astounded by how boring our lives are—every week is exactly like the last.

So yesterday, in an effort to break away from my normal routine, I tried something new. Instead of just running my standard 40 minutes at the gym and calling it good, I tried out a class. I have never attempted a class at the gym before for fear that I would not be able to keep up, feel stupid, and mostly because I knew I would look like an idiot—I experienced all this and more.

I attended an hour long power pump class—it’s like weight lifting/resistance training set to music kind of like aerobics—which, ps I will never try—defiantly not coordinated enough to do that! I awkwardly watched each of the class members as they prepared for the class collecting weights, dumbbells, mats, aerobic steps and exercise balls and I did the same.

Within the first 10 minutes of class I knew I was in trouble—I was so exhausted from the warm up my legs had ceased to function properly. I pooped out on the 4 reps of 20 legs lifts after the first rep, made it three-quarters of the way through the lunges, and half way through squats—and that was without the weights! By the time we moved on to the upper body my legs were ready to give out. Balancing on a ball we worked our abs, backs, arms and upper body, I had such a hard time balancing on ball (because my legs no longer had feeling) that I had to wimp out and sit on the aerobic step to complete the arms portion of the class.

The last 10 minutes of the class was dedicated to just abs and that’s when I gave up. My arms, legs, and back could no longer support my weight; I not could risk EVERY single muscle in my body being so sore I wouldn’t be able to climb out of bed in the morning—wise choice. Even so, Man, am I sore today! The simply act of just sitting at my desk puts enough pressure on my buttocks and hip to make them cramp up—ouch!

So will I ever go back? Probably—I like the challenge. It’s a good thing, though, the next class isn’t until Tuesday, that should give me enough to recover before I embark on my next “What was I thinking??! I look like idiot! I can’t keep up! Never have I felt this much pain!!” Adventure.

A New Adventure

After all of the waiting the day has finally come—Tyler’s first day at school—as a flight instructor of course! Tomorrow Tyler will meet with his first student (whose name, strangely enough, also happens to be Tyler).

Yesterday Tyler took me down to the UVU hanger at the Provo airport to show me the plane he will be instructing in.

He also showed off his neat cubby and cubical in the instructor's office. He even tried in his new uniform so I could get the whole effect.

Doesn’t he look adorable? He is so nervous but I know that he will do a fantastic job.

Good luck babe!

A Visit With the Family Circus

Being married can make splitting up the holidays hard; luckily for Tyler and me we were able to see both our families this year. We spend Christmas with the Crowthers and New Years with the Kuykendall/Hofheins clan.

My Family made the long, cold, icy trek from the beautiful land of CA to bring the Phyllis out to BYU. There were about 12 people and two dogs staying overnight at Grandma’s. During the day the house swelled to 22 people and 3 dogs! I managed to convince my baby brother stay at my house—due to a slight shortage of space.

New Years Eve T and E spent a day out on the slopes doing some manly bonding

News Years Day my aunts, cousins, sisters, mom, and I all went shopping (that’s 10 women all together). My boys (dad, brother, Tyler) said that they couldn’t take all of the estrogen and ditched—I am not really sure what they did while all the girls were shopping—maybe I don’t want to know.

It was so much fun having all of the family together. My parents and brother said their goodbyes Saturday—that always the worst part of visiting with loved ones—the goodbyes. It’s not so bad, though, we should be seeing them again in the not too distant future when they bring the man child out to the MTC—that will be a sad goodbye. For now I send them my love; I miss you guys! But, what I really missed the most is CA—when will the snow stop falling?!