Rain brings beauty

Finally something good came of all this rain! When we were at the Mayan I didn't get any pictures of the rainbows, but these were passed on to me today by a friend at work. Both rainbows were full arches, and gorgeous! Maybe that means our rainy June is finally over!

Happy Birthday Asher!

Asher turns 3 today! We had a little family party last night while the parents were in town. Luke and I had bought her a make up set and she opened it second adn immediately wanted to play with it, but was told she had to open the rest of her gifts first. She is so smart--she tore into everything else and before even seeing what it was would throw it on the couch and go on to the next thing. As soon as she was done she was asking for the make up to be opened and wouldn't put it down! We had to leave a few minutes later, but she had already used a lot of the make up in the kit! She loves make up so much, and the color pink that I am thinking about recruiting her to sell Mary Kay! How could anyone resist this?

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

If anyone is living in or coming to visit Utah any time soon, please take an hour and go walk through the LDS Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Located in South Jordan this will be the 130th temple in the world, making the city of South Jordan the only temple in the world with two temples. Before the tour a 10 minute video is shown on the purpose of temples, and the work that is performed in them. You do not have to be a member of the church or even know much about it to experience this grand building. The open house runs Monday-Saturday through August first, with tours beginning every ten minutes from 8am-850pm. Tickets can be found on www.lds.org/reservations. This is an opportunity you don't want to miss!

James Blonde

My parents were in town this weekend for Asher's birthday, but we were also able to celebrate Father's Day and my dad's birthday just a little late. Friday when I got off work everyone came and met me at my apartment. The kids get bored pretty easy at my house since we dont have any toys, but this time they were hilarious! Asher has discovered a new love for Luke's supersoaker and wants to spray it off the balcony every time she comes over! She will come in and maybe give me a hug then run straight for the balcony and tell me to fill the gun! She will then spray it through each slat on the balcony and try to hit the trees, and the house. That alone could entertain her for hours. Jaman usually comes in and signs to his "friends" meaning he is bored, but this time, he came dancing into the apartment, gave me a hug and wanted to dance around! I had just received a package and inside were the packing peanuts--he was fascinated by them. He threw them up in the air and when they landed would roll around in them! So as he was rolling in a handful I went over and dumped the box on him and he LOVED it! He threw it up and palyed in it as if it was snow. Asher is also learning Ring around the Rosie, and papa taught her duck, duck, goose. Then, she came up with "cows in the cornfields" out of nowhere and had us all cracking up! I am so glad the kids were entertained easily, I just wish I would have had a video camera!

That night we all went to the Mayan for dinner. This is a Mexican restaurant that is set up like Mayan ruins. They even have cliff divers as entertainment! They just got a new chef and changed their whole menu and the whole experience is fun now! As we came out it had been raining, and we saw not only ONE, but TWO FULL rainbows across the mountains! It was beautiful, and everyone was in awe and getting out cameras. After dinner Luke and I took dad to see "James Blonde" at Desert Star Theater. This is a parody theater in Murray that is hilarious! The full title of the show was "James Blonde, Agent 7-11, case of Casino REAL" as you can see a lot of it is a play on words--one of my favorite quotes "Agent 7-11 is all about convenience!" The whole play adds in local humor and some mormon humor-- when they are talking about Blonde's mission the piano player started playing "I hope they call me on a mission" and the supervisor says "I am going to fire you and hire a catholic!" They also make references to most Bond movies, and when they miss their lines--the improv is on the spot and funny. One of the guys was wearing false teeth and having a hard time keeping them in--at one point they fall out and as he puts them back in he says "thats the last time I buy the Wal-Mart brand of Polygrip!" Anyone who needs a good laugh should go see this show!

Free Fridays at Shelf Reliance!

Are you big into food storage and have no place to put it? Are you wanting to start your food storage and wondering WHERE to put it? Well, look no further-- Shelf Reliance has a new promotion where they will be giving away new prizes every two weeks. The current prize is a 72" Harvest shelf and winners will be announced on Friday June 26 at noon mountain time. Follow the link below to find out more details and enter the contest!


http://www.shelfreliance.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/15/free-friday-bringing-harvest/comment-page-62/#comment-3211

Challenges and Cravings

Luke and I struck up a deal this month. We are both trying to eat more healthy so we gave each other challenges to help overcome bad habits. I challenged him to stop drinking soda for a month, and he challenged me to not eat ANY chocolate for a month! Today is day 16, and we are both doing well. Luke has lost 7 lbs already, and chocolate is not looking as tempting any more! Even when the office had treats all week to celebrate being out of bankruptcy--chocolate cake, eclairs, brownies, chocolate doughnuts... oh yeah---I resisted them all!! Saturday we were shopping at Target and they have samples in the super stores now. As soon as we walked in the first sample was new flavors or Mountain Dew and I laughed and said ha ha ha you can't have any! But, guess what--the next sample was ice cream--my other weakeness and both flavors put out to sample had chocolate. Luke picked up a sample and waved it in my face-MMMM Chocolate! But I was good and resisted. We bought popcicles instead :) July 9 is what we are shooting for and if we both live up to it we get a special prize!

Weekend adventures

This past weekend we went to Lagoon--for those of you who are not Utah natives or don't frequent visits here--that is the only amusement park in the state. It is small, but we had lots of fun! Our favorite ride was wicked--a rollercoaster that shoots you straight up then over a very small peak and straight back down before spinning in all directions! What a ride--that one alone made it worth the trip! We also got soaked on a ride called cliff hanger--so soaked that we were still damp when we left the park at closing! It was definitely an adventure.

Saturday we spent some time in downtown salt lake and went to an open house of the new church history library--that we didn't really intend on going too it was just the only parking lot for free parking so we thought we would check it out! The older missionary guarding the lot didnt think we would enjoy it so we wanted to prove him wrong. The church goes all out when it comes to history! We were amazed by many of the restorative techniques. While on the tour we ran into a couple that used to be in my ward in Vegas--she was actually my young womens leader growing up! When she was in the ward they only had one little boy and now they have five kids! They have moved all over from Vegas, to Georgia, all over Utah and now are getting ready to move back to Nevada. Such a small world to run into them there, but very fun. We must have been a lot younger then because when I said Leslie was turning 21 this year her husbands eyes about popped out of his head! After the library we went over and toured the Beehive house, but as we were leaving the heavens decided to dump buckets on us again! We danced and ran to the car, but were again sopping wet by the time we got there! 

Another new adventure for me this weekend I cut Luke's hair. I should have taken before and after pictures and had his brother take pictures during the cut, but sadly enough I didn't! I was pretty nervous--his mom is a hairdresser, but is out of town and he didnt want to wait any longer so he had me do it. I had never cut a mans hair so he guided me through it and Dallas helped me touch it up. It was fun, and he looks clean cut again! 

Husbandly love

My husband loves me! Thursday night was another funny first for us-- I sent Luke to the store for ice cream and tampons and he went with a smile on his face! If that doesn't say I love my wife, I don't know what does! We truly will live Happily Ever After! 

Random...

SO the last couple weeks have been very busy for us as we continue to adjust to married life. We have been very busy! Luke's security job has given us some hassles, but FINALLY put him on a steady schedule which has been so nice! He now has Thursday and Fridays off  so we actually get one weekend night together, and most of Saturday morning as well as getting to go to church together. That has been a blessing. He has also been hired on with Extend Health to sell Health insurance. That will not start until August so he has all summer to attend classes that will prepare him to take the test for his license, and then actually take the class. Once he is settled in and fully trained in insurance he can quit security forever--HALLELUJAH!! We are so happy. ALso in August we will be moving into a house. We will be renting the basement portion, and Luke's brother and cousin will live in the upstairs. We are very excited to be in a bigger space for less rent. The landlord has given us permission to paint so we will be able to make it our home. We will also be right around the corner from his parents which we are very excited about. 

Also, as of June 9 my company will be officially emerging from chapter 11 bankruptcy! They had actually filed last July before I even started, but things went very smoothly, and we are coming out a very clean company. We have had many parties the last week to celebrate. We also just completed a very fun wellness program that as we all finished better than expected lead to bonuses! I am very happy at this company and am so glad I followed the spirit to move here. My life has completely changed in the last year. I moved to a state where I didn't have any friends to work for a company that was in bankruptcy, I moved in to my own apartment for the first time, and ended up finding the love of my life and getting married. I am so thankful for the ways that the Lord proves he knows and loves each of his children. There is only one thing more that would mean my life had changed in every aspect in a year, but we are not quite ready to be parents just yet! 

25th birthday madness!

So I am a little behind on blogging... but now I have the pictures to go with my posts. Luke had a birthday shortly after we got married--25!! That called for a celebration! I spoiled him rotten! I forgot something I needed and he was off that day so he brought it to me at work which is where he got his first gift of the day-- a beta fish! The story here is that he wanted them as table decorations at our reception, and all of the women shot him down. SO, he still got one...just a few weeks later! The newest member of our family is George, and he likes to hide from us except at feeding time! 

Luke was working nights at the time so the night before I stayed up late and decorated the apartment with happy birthday stuff. I had some caution tape that says birthday zone and off limits all over it so i taped it across our front door so that when he came in it would be all decorated. He got home from work at 7am as I was getting ready to leave and asked what I had done--He loved it! I got off work early that day and came home for more surprises. He wanted a Twix cake so I improvised and made a cake with caramel in the center and then frosted it and put mini twix all around the edges.  We were having a party that night so I also made cupcakes--it was supposed to be a car party (which didn't exactly happen) but I put oreos with a white lifesaver in the middle of them on top of the cupcakes to look like old white walled tires. I had a little fun! 

white walled tire cupcakes

the twix cake, and George (the newest member of our family!)

When I got home and woke him up it was time for presents! Luke hasn't had a new suit in forever so I found a great deal and surprised him! He also got a portable DVD player, and a new taillight for his car ( he has been wanting one since we started dating and I got a FABULOUS deal on EBay. My mother taught me how to shop!)

this picture is funny cause it makes him look like he has a fro with the shadows in the background

That night we had family and friends over for the party. We had a lot of fun. Our nieces were a highlight of the party--they both LOVED the noisemakers and party hats and chased each other around all night. 

Asher with chocolate all over her face, and favorite new toys in hand

Asher and Desiree

All in all it was a great day, and our first birthday as a married couple! Funny, mine we got engaged and when his came we had been married for two weeks! 

More Honeymoon pictures

We dropped our camera on  our first day in vegas so we bought a disposable camera for the rest of our trip which I FINALLY got developed! Here are some of our Sea World pictures

we bought a souvenir sea world picture frame and this was the winning picture of us to go in it 

SHAMU

The Dolphin show was my favorite--sorry Shamu

I forgot what kind of animal this is, we just wanted the sea world sign in the background as an option for our photo frame :)

The pregnant Polar bear

Isn't my husband cute?