NATALIE

Natalie is my sister and best friend. She always has been and always will be. She is always there to listen , give support, scrapbook with me, run to the grocery store with me at midnight... anything and everything... she is always there. She truly is my best friend.
Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with having pre-cancerous cells on her cervix and uterus. We had to wait for blood tests and biopsy procedures before anything could be done. After nearly 2 months of waiting she finally had her surgery on Tuesday. The doctors went in and removed half of her cervix and scraped off all of the cancer and pre-cancerous cells on her uterus. The surgery was successful and thankfully didn't take very long. She has been home for the week recovering and should be back to normal next week.
Over the 2 next years she'll have multiple check-ups and hopefully no more surgeries. And the doctors are pretty sure she'll still be able to have children. I am just so thankful that the problem was caught in time. If she had waited even a month longer then the cells would have all been cancer and she might not have had any chance at having kids. I am so happy to have my sister around for a long time and maybe one day become an aunt. I love you Nat Nat!

Did you know every 47 minutes, another woman in the United States is diagnosed with cervical cancer? HELP PREVENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HumoHUC8yQ

GOOD THINGS HAVE FINALLY COME OUR WAY

As some of you may know, I was completely miserable at my job. I was working at a portrait studio. I loved taking pictures and working with the customers that came in. And I was so excited to be doing photography every day. Long story short... my original manager was relocated to another studio and a new lady was brought in. She was seriously awful! My job became HELL. It became all about sales and only spending TEN MINUTES in the camera room with each photo session. Are you kidding me?!? I can't do pictures in ten minutes. And the studio cut my hours from 30 a week to 5. FIVE HOURS people! I can't live off that! So for about 4 months I looked REALLY hard for a new job. Nothing promising ever came about. So I opened an Etsy store and started decorating wood crafts to pass the time.
One night when I was at The Wood Connection (the store where I buy my wood crafts) I ran into the owners wife and after a short conversation she offered me a job. I seriously couldn't believe it. It was so easy! I immediately quit the portrait studio and started at Wood Connection a couple days later. I have been there 3 weeks now and I absolutely LOVE it! It's not even like work to me. Everyone is so nice and I love going to work in the morning! Not to mention it literally takes me 90 seconds to get from my driveway to the time clock. And I've already been given a raise with another one coming in 2 weeks. And I can get as many hours a week as I want. So I've been working at least 40.
It has been such a blessing getting this job. If you only knew how awful I felt at my last job. I felt so degraded and unappreciated. And poor Codee had to put up with a couple nights of me sobing my eyes out as I left work. It is just such a relief to finally be somewhere where I'm happy and being doing something that I love. I know I won't work there forever but it'll be nice to enjoy until Codee is done with school and we can move somewhere when I can use my degree and pursue my real life dreams.

PUSHED BACK...

Today was supposed to be the 100 day countdown until the wedding. A day that I've looking forward to. No more triple numbers. Earlier this week Codee called me when I was half awake and said,
"Guess what?!"
"What?"
"U2 is coming to Rice Eccles on June 3rd!"
(My half awake response) "Oh cool, do you want to go?"
"No Rachel, they are coming on June 3rd... the day of our wedding..."
".... uhhh ...." "Are you serious!!! NOOO!"

This is problem because the Outdoor U2 concert is a mile away from my Outdoor wedding. So as soon as my morning voice was gone I called Red Butte Gardens to see what they could do. (BTW-The ladies up there are so nice and understanding) After making some phone calls, the wedding coordinator called me back. She said Rice Eccles was starting sound checks at 3 and the opening band was coming on around 7. And there was a good chance you could hear "Testing Testing 1 2 3" in the middle of "I do". Plus there is going to be 60,000ish people driving up that way and traffic would be a nightmare! And after 4 years of driving up to the University every day I know how horrendous traffic is up there.
Every Friday and Saturday in June was already booked. And there was only one Thursday still open for the month. June 17th... So we had no choice but to go with June 17th... unless we wanted our guests to fight traffic and a possible "testing testing 1 2 3" in the middle of the ceremony. On the positive side, Red Butte Gardens is having their annual fundraising gala on the 18th. So the gardens will be in their best tip-top shape. And there is less of a chance for rain.
So June 17th is the date! Maybe the couple extra weeks will help me get ahead of all the wedding planning.
p.s. Bono, I'm expecting a BIG wedding gift.

WEEKEND OF LOVE

Aaahhh... Valentines Day. I find that most people either hate it or love it. We are on the "love it" side. Not that we need a special day to celebrate our loviness (if that's a word) but it's just something to look forward to out of our day to day routines.
Friday doesn't really count towards Valentines because Codee dragged me to the Hunting Expo. I guess it was just payback for the 2 bridal shows I dragged him too. But I did it because I LOVE him...
Saturday we planned on going out to delicious Market Street but halfway through the day I thought cooking dinner together might be more fun. Cooking is actually something we really enjoy doing together. So we made a shrimp, scallop and noodle pasta dish. It turned out just okay... But just as we sat down to eat Codee put a blind fold over my eyes and then presented me with a beautiful flower arrangement... lillies, roses, carnations and a bunch of other non-traditional Valentines flowers. Which I loved because I really wasn't wanting roses.
Sunday, I got more flowers! Codee heard me saying I wanted red tulips at the Hunting Expo. That night we had tickets to Josh Turner out in Wendover with my honeybee friend Tina and her fiance Andrew. We met at Squatters downtown (which is amazing by the way, the mac & cheese and the italian pizza are to die for) for some good pub grub. Then we took the long and boring drive to Wendover. The show didn't start till 8 so we browsed the casino for a bit and headed to the concert hall about 7:40. Well, when we got there the doors were locked and nobody was waiting in line. Once they let us in we realized the show had started at 7. Oops! My fault... So we enjoyed 5 out of 16 songs and then got back into the car for the long drive back. All well...
So overall, I'd say we had a successful Valentines weekend, minus missing the Josh Turner concert. I had a fun weekend hangin out with my love.

ETSY

I recently started an Etsy store in my spare time. (It's part of my mission to becoming a domestic goddess.) I've started making wood home decor items. Eventually I'd like to add sewing creations, scrapbook stuff... anything my imagination and creativity can come up with.
So far, I've had 3 custom orders completed. And am working on another one right now. I've really enjoyed doing all of it. And with Codee doing school and homework most nights, its given me something to do in my free time.
Anyways... check it out... spread the word to your friends and family. I really want to get the word out there. Thanks for your help!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AllMyLove86

CHRISTMAS 2009

Codee and I had an amazing Christmas! The day was a little crazy trying to visit family, but that's how it always is right? Codee came to my house in the morning and we opened presents with my family and then we did our gifts for each other. My parents got us a kitchen table! I already knew that's what we were getting because we picked it out in November. But it's what I've been telling them I want all year.
Codee spolied me with new jeans from Buckle, a fossil watch, a cowgirl bracelet that I love, a new purse and gift cards to my favorite craft stores. And just when I thought he was done, he went out to his car and brought in a big heavy box... with a Kitchenaid Mixer!!! I've been saying we should get one for a while but I didn't think he'd actually suprise me with one.
After gifts we made breakfast with my family and took a nap. Later that night we headed to both of my grandparents to have 2 dinners and desserts.
Since the majority of Codee's family lives in Cache Valley we couldn't drive up for the whole day. So we went up to Wellsville/Logan the Sunday after Christmas to spend the whole day with them. His mom made a delicious Christmas dinner and we exchanged gifts with everyone. It was so nice to get away for the day and head out of Salt Lake.
Altough we had an amazing Christmas with gifts and all, the real gift and thing I was most thankful for this season was family. I feel so lucky to have Codee in my life and that's the best gift I could ever ask for. We also have AMAZING family members around us. They are so much better then any gift from Santa. It's hard sometimes being away from Codee's family and not seeing them very often, but when we do see them I feel so loved and so grateful for the time we have with them. I'm so excited to officially and legally become a part of his family. Next Christmas I will be Rachel Raymond... YAY!!!
My mixer!!!

One of Codee's new watches

Fabulous Christmas

Our cute little tree in my bedroom

Codee. Nat. Chase

Londyn (Codee's neice with her dress up box we got her)

INSEPARABLE

This obituary was in Sunday's edition of the Salt Lake Tribune. It's a local Notebook love story. Although I didn't know these people I really hope to have a love like theirs as Codee and I start our lives together.
Neal B. Olpin 9/28/1926~12/30/2009 JoeAnn B. Olpin 5/9/1929~12/30/2009 The sweetest love, life fully lived, now complete. Neal B. Olpin, our Papa, passed away Dec. 30, 2009 just seven hours before his sweetheart of 61 years, JoeAnn Broyles Olpin, our Grammy, both passed away of natural causes. Inseparable in life; together in passing. Born September 28, 1926 to Albert W. Olpin and Katie Irene Stephenson of Salt Lake City, Neal graduated from East High School, then joined the Navy in 1944. Neal continued his education at the University of Utah in pre-med courses. He determined his life's course, personally and professionally when he met JoeAnn, a dental assistant. Born May 9, 1929 to Joseph E. Broyles and Irene Crane, JoeAnn graduated from South High, Salt Lake City, and worked as a dental assistant where she met her sweetheart, Neal. As newlyweds, Neal and JoeAnn moved to San Francisco where Neal graduated as Valedictorian from the University of Pacific School of Dentistry and began his dental practice of 42 years in Salt Lake City. Neal and JoeAnn were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, May 6, 1976 by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. Grammy and Papa loved nothing more than spending time with their family.

CHRISTMAS EVE

I think we may have started a new Christmas Eve tradition. We went ice skating downtown at the Galivan Center on Christmas Eve. It was so fun being downtown with all the lights and the Christmas music. It definitely put us in the Christmas mood. And surprisingly we didn't fall!!!



I took a picture of this slush because I thought it looked like a heart. AAWWWW...