Ugly Sweater Party

Last night we went to an Ugly Sweater Party at

Jake & Candice's house.

It was a lot of fun to see all of the ugly sweaters people could find. 

I had a struggle to find something good and I didn't want to go out and buy one.

I called up my parents to see if they had anything ancient we could use and found nothing.

My mom had the idea to call up my grandma. Obviously I wasn't going to tell her it was an "Ugly" sweater party so I just told her we were 

having a sweater party(which isn't a lie) and she agreed 

that she would have something I could use. I felt bad deceiving her. 

When I got there she had a lot of her "Holiday Sweaters" (as she called them)

 laid out for me to choose. I got her to let me take a few(because Todd needed one), under 1 condition...she told me "well these are my holiday sweaters so I wear them during the holidays...when can you have them back?" This made me giggle inside because she still wears them. For any of you that knows my funny grandma

just picture her in these. She is so funny. 

I know the pictures are blurry but you can get the gist. 

We played Yankee Swap/White Elephant gift exchange and some other fun games.

Todd just looked so funny in his. 

New Job!

I just started my new job at 

Jared the Galleria of Jewelry!

Finally I have a respectable job. No more Joe's Crab Shack.

It has been great so far and I love all of the people I work with. 

It is really hard to not go shopping on down time

We will see how long I can go without buying any 

Le Vian Jewelry (I love the chocolate diamonds).

Also Todd is currently the top salesman in ALL

Gold's Gyms in the Treasure Valley!!

Way to go Todd. 

He has around 25 clients now and is doing such a 

great job and he loves it too. 

Only good news to report here!

Halloween!

~Good times for Halloween~

Costume Party

Bank robber & Doctor 

(He looks like Dr. Travis Stork from The Dr.'s)

We weren't expecting these great costumes!

The girls left to right:

Army, Scarecrow, Toothfairy, Onesie, Mouse, Cat (who ate a fish drawn on her pregnant stomach not shown), 

Devil, Bank robber, Witch! 

The boys:

The Crow, 70's (baby girl Tenley is a Monkey), Dr., Onesie, Wolverine, The Joker.

Claire bear & uncle Todd.

Before the costume party we had a Trunk or Treat.

Our ward was combined so we got to see our cute niece & nephew.

Another party with my side nieces & nephews.

They had some adorable costumes that just made me laugh.

The Kindle

I would read a lot more books if I had one of these!

I love Autumn!

I just love the Autumn colors on the trees outside. 

There have been some really crisp days but every once in a while

you will get just the perfect mix of sunshine and warmth 

to go for a nice walk.

I love burning fall scents! 

It gets me excited for the Holidays.

Once I started burning Sticky Cinn. Bun 

I was thinking Christmas already!

There are many more I have yet to try.

My favorite Fall Scentsy scents (& burners above):

• Sticky Cinnamon Bun (burning right now)
• Peach Cobbler Cinnamon
• Baked Apple Pie
• Nutmeg & Orange Zest
• Pumpkin Roll (mmm)

Memories...

Per request from my last post, I only have the one's of me.

I was 6 in the picture on the left. 

I just have to laugh at my outfits and hairdo's.

Apparently I liked pink.

Happy Birthday Jackson

Saturday was my nephew Jackson's 2nd B-day along

with my niece's Baptism(no pics).

Jackson was so excited opening his presents!

He had a lot of hot wheels and each one he was equally excited about like

 it was something he hadn't seen before. I love two year olds!

(Jackson & Rocco lovin life)

Weeks previous we were also Celebrating my

Grandma & Aunt Sherri's 82nd Birthday! 

My Grandma(white) always bragged that she was born

20 minutes earlier, therefore, older & wiser.
Thanks to Grandma we were all able to look back and laugh at ourselves.

She had found these old school pictures of us we'd given to her.

Andee is in the process of telling Chad how much of a dork he was

and Heather is remembering how cool those 80's huge wave bangs were. 

D & S Homes

My Parents website is now up and running. 

So check it out!

I hope that we will be moving into one in 

the near future!

www.dnshomes.com

Really?

The view from my apartment today...

I'm not ready for snow!

A few moments later...

My New Excitements

I love riding my bike to school. 

I am really close to the greenbelt and it takes about 15 minutes

to ride to BSU. Plus I don't have to drive around for 15 min finding a parking

spot in some neighborhood and walk another 10 min to class. & I save on gas-Hello!

The greenbelt takes me right to campus and I can ride right up to my class, lock up, and 

go in!! It is getting fairly cold in the mornings so I have to bundle up already.

I'm going to try to ride as much as possible before it's too cold to handle.

The greenbelt is so pretty right now riding next to the river.

It is very calming and it's good for me to get the bike exercise a few times a week.

P90X

Has anyone tried this workout?

It's a killer. We borrowed it from my sister-in-law and love it.

It has a bunch of different dvd's and yesterday I did Ab Ripper X and I couldn't

even get out of bed this morning because my stomach hurt so bad today.

They need a warning on that thing. Well I probably just didn't read it.  

Pico de Gallo

My mom told me yesterday that she made some pico de gallo just like Baja Fresh's.

I wanted to try it because we haven't been getting a lot of veggies 

in our diet and it's a great snack. 

It's delicious!

To try it:

• 1 1/2 lbs    -Plumb Tomatoes (about 6 medium)
• 3/4 cup     -White Onion
• 1/2 cup      -Cilantro 
• 1 Tbs.    -Lime (about 1/2 a lime)  This makes it so yummy!
• 1 tsp    -Garlic
• 1/2 tsp    -Salt
• 1/2 tsp    -Cayenne Pepper (optional)

Todd got the Gold

Todd got the job @

Gold's Gym 

as a Personal Trainer!

We are excited for him to start his new adventure. 

He is going to have a FULL schedule with school and a new job. 

But he's tough he can handle it.

If you know of anyone who would like a change of pace

with a Personal Trainer

send them to Todd @ the Meridian Gold's!

Emmett's Most Excellent Triathlon

It was a long night before the race. Todd and I probably got 3 hours of sleep, we just

couldn't sleep and we had to wake up @ 4:45!

By the time we got to Emmett the nerves were

kicking in and I wasn't tired anymore. 

Getting lined up for the swim

Women's Sprint start

Todd just swam a mile! 

No one saw me get out of the water so no pics there.

Todd coming in to transition. 

He was feeling a little sick after the 25 mile

ride and he ran out of water!

 They didn't have much relief 

on the bike course for him either. But he kept going

on to the 6.2 miles he had to run next!

The only in action picture of me! 

From the bike to the run start. 3.1 miles to go. 

It was a challenge but I just kept my feet moving.

It was such a great feeling to finish!

I took 4th in my age group. 

Todd, me, & Annette.

It felt so good to be done and to have completed the race. 

I was so proud of Todd and Annette for doing the Olympic distance. 

We will definitely be doing another one soon!

10% OFF SALE 

IS HERE!

Save in the month of August

HURRY & GET YOUR FAVORITE 

SUMMER SCENTS 

BEFORE THEY ARE DISCONTINUED!

Start shopping & click below

www.scentsy.com/kima

Happy 1 Year to US!

June 30th

I can't believe it has been a year! I used to think that a year was a long time and yet

here we are already! 

We didn't have a lot of time to do much so we hung around all afternoon

and went swimming. We went to eat at Smoky Mountain Pizza (I work there, yumm!). I had to work that night and Todd had to go to school.

What a day of Celebration huh?

It has been a great year of getting to know

each other. I couldn't be more happy with my husband. 

He is:

•  patient
• loving
• handsome 
• motivating
  
• determined
• easy going
• kind
• a priesthood holder
• has great taste
• family oriented 

Todd is such a great person and I see that more and more everyday. 

When I look around at people I work with and other relationships in the world

I think how good I have it. My husband is in no way abusive, or uses me, or

uses profanity, or those other awful things. He is an angel compared

to the things going on in this world. I hope I can be a better wife

for him and learn from his good examples.

I'm grateful for Todd and that we will be together forever!

I have been very behind on my blogging! Here are a few updates with what has been going on with us.

We have been spending a lot of time with family. Above is Todd with cute little Claire Bear that looks like Pebbles with her little pig-tail and big blue eyes! We have moved downtown recently so we get to see her and Lincoln a lot more. 

Finally we got to meet Tyler! Todd's brother Greg and his fun family came into town and we got to see our nephew for the 1st time!

We went to Merrill Park so the kids could play in the splash park and we had a picnic. It was a HOT day. Here are the Boys. (Dad, Greg, Tyler, Todd)

On the 4th of July I worked and then met up with Todd's side of the fam at Jeff's house for a BBQ and some fireworks. All of the kids lined up for Greg to light their sparklers. 

More Family Parties. 

At my parents house we played some fun games. Above Brooklyn is finishing up our

game of Sculptionary(sp?) It's Pictionary but you sculpt it out of playdough!

It is really fun! You sculpt simple things like "Button, shovel, pizza" but it's

tougher than it seems!  

The other game we had going on was Lasso Golf. There are a lot of names for 

this game but it is really fun. This is my grandma taking a shot at it.

You throw the rope with golf balls knotted on each end and try

to lasso it to the poles for points. It is a very addicting game-go get it!!

Janet Clarkson Memeorial Triathlon

Last Thursday we headed out to West Yellowstone with my family to set up camp. Friday we drove through the park and saw lots of buffalo, some elk, bald eagles, and pretty scenery. 

Below is one of the many geysers that we saw. We also went to Old Faithful and it wasn't very faithful. Usually it will go off every hour but it went off about 10 minutes late!

Saturday morning I woke up about 6:30 and the race began @ 10:00. Todd got a little more sleep than I did-I can't sleep in when I camp. 

 We started to get my wetsuit on about 20 minutes before the race. It was closing in on starting time and I was feeling the nerves begin because I don't like to be rushed. Also they announced that the race was 1000 meters (I haven't swam that far yet!). I knew that the race was .65 of a mile but a 1000 meters was a little different because in a pool I've swam 800 meters at most.  I took a dip in the water to feel the cold rush on m body. It was a good temp. of 59* that morning, which was 4* higher than last year. Mike and I got in a photo before our start in our HOT outfits!

And we're off...

You can see that the water was pretty and still. Right when I started to get into the rhythm of the free-style I got some bad anxiety when my head would go into the water. I had to start doing the breast-stroke for a while. Before the race I expected to swim in about 35 min so that I wouldn't rush myself and I finished in 29 minutes! I handed my timer to my Dad for the bike and he was off. 

(Mike was 3rd out of the water! in 18 min)

He had a good bike ride and he looked good in his new shirt we all got him for Father's day!

Todd finished at a dead sprint! It was very warm for the bike and the run and it 

was at a higher altitude. They did a great job. 

After a while Todd and I went over to hear all of the rewards.

Right when we walked up we heard Mike's name and I went up to get his for him (he didn't want to get his metal-he's too humble and doesn't like all the hype)

Mike got 1st place in his age division and he finished 4th overall!

&

Surprisingly we got one!! We received 3rd place metals for the relay!

Here's the whole gang. 

I'm glad that we did this race and got a feel for what it's like. We are looking forward

to our next race in August!