girl of his (and my) dreams

so nate has been my best friend for years and years.  i was always so afraid of the day when he would fall in love.  mostly it was fear that i wouldn't like the girl and would therefore lose my best friend.  i am SO excited that he fell in love with one of the coolest girls ever.  not only do i still have my best friend, i get to have another great friend "join the family."  nate and kelly got engaged on monday and will have a joyful wedding this summer in denver.  words can not express how happy i am for these two.  i think they are both very lucky to have each other.  i have always said that he will be an amazing husband to whoever he ends up with, and she is his perfect match.

now i just dream of when nate graduates dental school next year and will move back here with his cute wife.  life will be grand.  since i am in hygiene school, the plan has always been for me to work for nate when he finishes and we would basically have a blast all day long in the office.  when i get bogged down at school, i just think of that....

i am suppose to be studying for my national board exam but i just wanted to document this important event in history.  now, back to the books.

"cool house, cool house, cool house for me"

i am not a believer in valentines day.  i feel like it is for children and high school couples.  once you get married i think that your anniversary takes its place.  or maybe its that just a 2 weeks ago we celebrated both our birthdays.  or that i think getting flowers is kind of a waste of money.  not that i don't love the gesture, but after a few days of admiring them, they die.  needless to say, i'm not a big romantic when it comes to the traditional stuff. 

what i do LOVE is spending time with my blake.  he has been sick lately so he didn't go to teach seminary class this morning so i got to spend time with him this morning and we went out for lunch (cheeseburgers of course) and he took me to school and came back to pick me up.  we then drove around looking at houses in phoenix.  this is one of our favorite activities.  the poor quality photo above is my favorite house i have ever laid eyes on.  it is prefect and about $4.3 million outside of our price range.  we love weaving in and out of old historic districts in phoenix and choose the ones we like the most, or pointing out what needs to change about the ones that are "close, but just not quite there." 

i love having a husband that loves to spend time with me.  so i guess i do like valentines day if it means just spending time with my sweet boy.  i don't need flowers, chocolates, jewelry, gifts, cards, special meals, or anything like unto these things.  i am perfectly content and in love with the moments when we just sit next to each other.  he gets me.  he encourages me.  he cheers me up.  he serves me to no end.  he is so perfect for me.  i don't think there is anyone else that gets treated this good.  good thing we have forever for me to try to show him how much i love him.

brycen cade

friday, 27 january at 8:38pm the most precious baby was born to my brother and his sweet wife.  this handsome guy fought through the odds of uncertainty and was born.  he was suppose to be a miscarriage, he was suppose to be stillborn, but this tough guy fought through it all and was born and lived for an hour and twelve minutes here on earth.  i'm so grateful for the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that allows me and my family to find peace and comfort in knowing that families are forever.  my sister-in-law and my brother will have their baby again.  he was such a valiant spirit that he did not need to be tested in this life.  i look forward to meeting this sweet boy someday. 

a two and a five

happy belated birthday to my love.  saturday was blake's birthday and be have been celebrating for days.  and oh how i love the celebration.  he means so much to me.  i can't imagine what life would be like without him.  he is so good for me because he treats me so well and loves me for who i am, yet at the same time inspires me to be better and better each day. 

friday we celebrated his "last day" of being 24.  i brought him and his work partners cupcakes from sprinkles. 

saturday, i made him his special breakfast and we went all around town getting free food then celebrated that night with his family.

sunday, we had a combined birthday party at my parent's house.  we ate lots of good food and of course angel food cake (my favorite but a standard birthday treat in my family).

monday, we went to the sun's game to watch them get creamed by the mavs.  the tickets were a gift from blake's business partner.  they were great seats.  its just too bad that it was just bad basketball.  steve nash wasn't playing.

tuesday (today), one of blake's gifts came in the mail... the complete 3rd season of the mentalist.  we love the mentalist and it is pretty much the only show we watch.  (and i like to watch the bachelor, even though it makes me so angry to see ben caught in the evil snares of courtney).  we already have seasons 1 and 2 but now we have a whole new season to (re)watch together.  blake says that if i cheat on him with simon baker that he would understand.  joking of course as i am way too in love with blake to ever even be tempted by simon.  but, he is a good looking guy.  i think blake has a man crush on him.

happy birthday, sweet boy.  here is to many more birthdays to share together.

traditions

i don't have many pictures from this years christmas as i was lacking use of an important limb.  so the only pictures we have are the ones my cute husband took.  as blake and i are mixing both of our families traditions and coming up with our own we have decided to include christmas pajama pants as one of them.  last year i made us both pajama pants to start the tradition and with the extra fabric i decided to make some for our niece and nephew.  so when this year came around i figured i would do the same.  not that opening up pajamas is the most exciting thing for a 4 year old.  either way they got their pants and grandpa steve got them these cute monkeys that match them perfectly.  (he did this without ever seeing or even hearing about the pants).  they don't look incredibly enthused in this picture but again, i didn't have a lot of pictures to choose from.  anyway we decided that we, and by we i mean i, would start making pajama pants for not only me and blake, but for all the nieces and nephew on blakes side of the family.  (my mom takes care of the nieces and nephew on my side so don't worry they aren't getting neglected).  next year i will get to make a tiny pair for my new niece who will be joining the family in march.

blake and i have made a tradition that i imagine will end or will have to be adjusted when we have kids.  it is sleeping over at my parents house with my younger siblings.  we have christmas morning with my family then go to his parents house for christmas night to exchange gifts.  then after the whole day seems over we come home to our place and exchange gifts to each other.  it makes the "magic of christmas" last to whole day as blake puts it.  this year blake got me the insanity workout dvds that i said a while back i would like to have (he is very good at remembering things i say throughout the year) and a new pair of running/workout shoes that are so comfortable.  but to make sure he felt like he wasn't trying to tell me that i was fat, he got me some double stuffed oreos as well, which were quickly devoured in a game night with camille and her new fiance eric udall.  (we are very excited to have him be officially joining the family soon.)

christmas cheer

we had a christmas party for blake's seminary class.  two of the boys that came (hank and jt) graduated a semester early and are now up at byu leaving blake with a slightly smaller class.  blake sure does love his calling.  i think he has really enjoyed having these last two weeks off though which as made getting up early again this week really tough.  but he is changing these kids lives. 

under a knife

2 weeks ago i had a long overdue surgery on my right shoulder.  i have had a bad shoulder since high school and decided it was finally time to deal with it.  strangely enough my final push to get me to do was because my family was trying to put together a city league softball team, but said i couldn't play since i have a bad throwing shoulder.  that was it.  i figured i am too young not to play sports and have fun.  and since i am still on my parents insurance through obama(hate that guy)care i decided that over the break after my anesthesia boards i would finally do what has been needed for about 7 years.  

blake took this picture right before they took me back.  its a nice outfit i know.  if i look a little scared, its because i was a little but not until that moment.  a few seconds after this my anesthesiologist slipped me some drugs through my IV and it took all of about 7 seconds for me to be completely out.

physical therapy has been going pretty well.  i have been able to move my arm pretty well and its getting stronger.  my families (my family and my in-laws) have taken good care of me and have been incredibly helpful and supportive.  i have another week and a half before i go back to school for my last semester of dental hygiene school so i am hoping that the remainder of my recovery goes smoothly.  sutures come out tomorrow...finally.