Why Hello...

Hello....
It's been a while since I last blogged.
June? Really?
I know I'm pathetic.
I'd like to promise that I will get better about blogging but I don't think I will.

I've realized something today, and it's that I don't always appreciate the blessings in my life. And it's sad that it took a scary event to slap me in the face.
With it being the week of Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is one of my FAVORITE holidays... I really needed a wake up call.

Codee is in his second season of snow plowing Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. (Kind of a scary job, the Discovery Channel covered a documentary on them last year. It's pretty intense) Now to brag on my husband for a minute... there is a reason he plows the canyon, because he is one of the best. They have special avalanche trainings if a situation ever occurs and they have to wear avalanche beacons every time they go up the canyon. What wife wouldn't be a little nervous?

Last night was the first snow storm of the season and Codee was scheduled to go up at 9 p.m. On the way up the canyon his truck began to slide. Knowing he wouldn't make it up the canyon he was able to turn around and head back down the mountain... As he turned around, he lost traction and began to slide. He was fish-tailing back and forth down the canyon all the while picking up speed. Up ahead there was bend in the road and with no contol of his truck, he thought for sure he would roll down the side of the mountain. He prepared to take the truck off the cliff, but with a moment of luck, was able to put both of his plows down and barely steer the truck into the side of the mountain where he crashed into a ditch. Very shaken up he was able to call another driver to come help pull him out of the mountain. The other driver began to slide when he got to Codee's truck and between the two trucks they were blocking off the whole road. Only one car slid off onto the shoulder and deputies were able to slow down other cars just in time.
It's honestly a miracle that no one was seriously hurt, including Codee who could have went off a cliff.

I am so thankful for Codee and that he works so hard to provide for us. I don't ever want to imagine being widowed at 25. I know I need to make the time to thank those who mean the world to me. I am so grateful for the amazing life I have and wouldn't trade it for anything.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Yay we've got one year of marriage under our belt! I can't believe its already been a year, it seems like just the other day we were saying our vows. According to Codee it seems like 5 years... but in a good way. Normally I would find this a little offensive but he assured me its because he's always felt like we belong together.

I feel like we've accomplished a lot our first year. Living together has been a lot of fun. We've learned to work out finances and budgeting, cooking, keeping up household chores and communicating more effectively.

So to celebrate the occasion we took a weekend trip to sunny St. George. The weather was perfect and we had an amazing time not having any agenda. My boss let us use his condo the first night and we booked a hotel room for the last 2 nights. We did lots of shopping and relaxing. We also bought tickets for Grease at Tuacahn.

Water for Elephants at the dollar movie




















Grease Lightening!





















Relaxing!


We saved the top tier of our wedding cake for our anniversary. And it actually tasted really good. It was wrapped in 3 layers of saran wrap, 3 layers of freezer paper and tinfoil and it made it through the year in our freezer.

Before...


After...
We did NOT smash cake in each others face at our wedding so we figured we had to at least do it on our anniversary.


After...


Even Togo and Zola got a piece...

PIGEON PROBLEM

Last week we had a bit of a pigeon problem...

After work on Monday I was walking up the stairs to our apartment and when I got to the last set of stairs there was a group of pigeons sitting on our door step and the railing by our front door. And one of them had RED EYES!! Aaahhhhh!!!
I had scream and yell to get them to leave! The week continued...

Tuesday... PIGEONS
Wednesday... PIGEONS
Thursday... PIGEONS
Friday... Pigeons

Saturday morning... a nest appears in the corner of our doorstep. Really pigeons?! You can't build a nest here! So we threw it away.

Sunday morning... an EGG! Yes a freaking pigeon egg!
I was freaking out at this point. It's bad enough that every day I come home I have to shake my keys like a mad woman and yell at the top of my lungs just to get them to leave. But now an egg?!?!?! You've got to be kidding me!

Sunday Evening... a new nest starts to form around the egg. Ugh!

Monday morning... mother pigeon sitting on the egg.
At this point I get evil looks from the red eyed pigeon every time I get near my door. The mother and father pigeon would only fly away about 15 feet every time I yelled at them. So annoying!

So I was telling my friend Allison at work about my problem and she told me her Grandpa used to raise pigeons. So she called him and he said just to throw it away. So I had Codee throw the egg and nest away before I got home from work.

I kinda felt bad... a little like a home wrecker. I took away their pigeon house and destroyed their baby. Sorry dear pigeons...
But you freak me out with your red eyes and the way you flap your wings at me when I come home. The next step was to shoot you.

The pigeon problem is finally over... they havent been near our front door all week. My mother-in-law joked that it could've been a stork leaving something else on the doorstep. Haha!



(please ignore that I still have a snowman door mat from Christmas)

EASTER

We had Mariah over one night before Easter to have dinner and dye Easter eggs. Mariah chose Chili's for dinner where we stuffed our faces with 3 different appetizers and each got our own entre. Never been so full in my life!
We came back to our place where we dyed some pretty rad eggs and listened to Justin Bieber.




Mariah's Beeber Feever Egg




Togo's egg!


Zola's egg!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CODEE!

Codee turned 28 on Saturday! Happy Birthday Love!

We had the plan to go golfing on his birthday but the snow storm had other plans. Other plans included Codee snow plowing the canyon Friday at midnight until 10 the next morning. And then going back at 10 that night until 6 a.m. Sunday morning. NO FUN!

In between that time he got a few hours of sleep and we drove up to Logan to have dinner with his family. We went to the best pizza place in Logan... Fredrico's. Right next to the Utah State campus.



Sunday, all he wanted to do was watch The Masters. So being a good wife I just let him do his thing. Haha! But I did take him to Cheescake Factory that night for a delish dinner.

YEARS OF WAITING

Growing up I couldn't wait to get my own place so I could decorate it how I wanted to. My mom would never take my designing tips growing up because our styles were completely different. Now that I'm married and have my own place she loves my style. (Funny how that works out.)
I've spent the last 3-4 years buying decorations and other home decor items for the time when I'd have my own place. Everything from dishes to pictures frames. And now it is finally coming together. I still have a lot of work I want to do and I know when we get a house one day things will have to be moved around but for now I'm having fun FINALLY getting the opportunity to do things my way. I really like black and white decor. One day when we get a house I'll have colored walls to make everthing POP.
Codee thought he'd do a lot of the decorating when we got married but c'mon... us women wait years to do this. And I was not about to have a camo couch and elk antlers on the wall. Maybe if we ever have a cabin I'll take those suggestions into consideration. ;)
I've spent the last year and half looking for lamps. I know right... lamps! But I am so in love with this lamp I bought 2 of them! Even though only 1 has a place right now.





















I made these frames with scrapbook paper and wooden frames from my work. I love the way they turned out and I found this metal "FAMILY" sign at Real Deals.



They sell these box signs at Gardner Village but I was so stoked when we started carrying them at my work and I could use my awesome discount.


"Kissing the War Goodbye" is my favorite photograph of all time. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!

VALENTINES

Since Valentines was on a Monday this year we did things a little different. We planned on celebrating on Wednesday night because Codee has school till 10 o'clock on Mondays and Wednesdays are the only not he doesn't have class. But the stupid snow rolled in on and Codee spent the night in a plow truck.
So Friday we finally went out to dinner to our favorite restaurant Market Street (seriously to DIE for). And Codee gave me the cutest handmade card! And an all day trip to the day spa. Yes, I'm a lucky girl. But of course I forgot my camera so you'll miss my snazy outfit I wore that night.

But I do have some Valentines crafts pictures to share. Right after the Christmas tree came down, up went the Valentines. This was probably my next favorite holiday to decorate for next to Halloween.