Counting My Blessings

Today I've been trying to count my blessings.

1 I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband
2 A nice apartment to live in
3 Decent cars that get us from point A to B and back to A again
4 My amazing family who takes good care of us and who we take good care of as well
5 My amazing in-laws who we love and miss so much
6 Our jobs and the great coworkers/friends we get to share our lives with
7 Modern medicine to heal all of our health issues
8 All other modern technologies to help us keep connected to our friends and family near and far
9 And for all of our opportunities

Even through our hard times it seems that we are making so much progress.  There is one thing in particular that we are working on right now that only a few people know about but we are so excited!!  Hopefully we'll get to share some good news soon but for now we don't want to jinx it.  We are just so very lucky and even though my depression/anxiety and Jonathan's bipolar gets the better of us some days...we try to remember just every blessing we have in our lives right now.  Hopefully the blood clot in my leg will heal soon so we can start exercising and getting a 5k in the plans for this summer!!  Wish us luck!!

GREAT News!!!

We finally got my car fixed...it needed a new battery!!! THANK GOODNESS that's all it was!!

I also got a call back on a job I applied for about a month ago doing data entry at the Utah State Tax Commission!!! They wanted me to do a data entry test so I went in on Tuesday and did the test. It was HARD!! They had these crazy math questions on part of it which I KNOW I bombed (hahaha) and then the typing tests. I did 9 3-minute tests and I can't remember all of my scores but I do remember getting at least over 10,000 keystrokes average with 99% accuracy...I thought that was pretty good for me. When I finished all the tests I looked around and...yeah...I was the very last person left testing still. I said (yes, out loud) "Man, I'm the last one...that's NOT good!" The HR lady just kinda laughed and gave me my final instructions and I was on my way. I left feeling pretty bummed. I thought I bombed the entire test hardcore!! I went home and pigged out on junk food and applied for 3 or 4 more jobs while I sulked. I got a call the next day from a different HR rep offering me an interview (meaning I passed the test and am still in the running for the job)! YAY!!!! The interview is on Wednesday at 8:30 so wish me luck!!! This job would be awesome because it'd be four 10-hour shifts Monday through Thursday and I'd get to wear regular street clothes (no dress code) and I'd be paid more and I'd be off by 4:30 every single day. It'd also be good for me because I'd be working in the same building as my mom!! I'd be able to be close to her and I think that would be fun! I wouldn't have to deal with customers, I'd actually get to sit down, I wouldn't have to deal with large amounts of cash/responsibilities. It would be such a good environment for me!! I really hope I get it.

Other GREAT news is that I got the results back from the Colposcopy and I don't have cancer!!! They want me to come back in about 6-12 months to do a follow up check to make sure it's going away or gone but so far I'm cancer free!!! YAY!!!!

All in all I am incredibly happy with the past week!!! I'm so excited that things are starting to even out a bit!!! I'm off tomorrow so that means time for me to continue reading my book!!! I'm going to get caught up on things around the house and relax!! I'm so excited!!! Another good thing that happened this week is last night when I got the news that I got offered the chance to interview I came home from work and Jonathan had the table all set up with a coke on ice and our beautiful martini glasses that we received for our wedding with the flowers he'd bought me earlier this week and he had cooked me a beautiful cubed steak dinner with rice and veggies and a side of beans!!! PERFECT dinner!!! After dinner he brought out a beautifully prepared plate of chocolates from Cold Stone Creamery/Rocky Mtn Chocolate Factory!!! YUM!!!! It was such a beautiful night!!! I love him!!!

Anyway...I am just so relieved with all of this great news that we've received this week and I am incredibly happy to have a week of near normalcy!! I wish I would've thought to take pictures of my beautiful dinner last night to post. Oh well...maybe next time!!! It was still a great week and I'm feeling satisfied with it! :D

Wedding Day Pictures Are Here!!!!

I'm SO excited because we just got our wedding pictures back this weekend and they are BEAUTIFUL!!! ShaiLynn is SO talented and she did such a great job!!! She gave us SO many pictures!!! 419 PICTURES!!! I am SO excited!!! Of course I can't post all of those because that is just way too many so HERE are my favorites!!!

That day was absolutely perfect and we really enjoyed seeing everyone there to show their support and love! It was an absolutely PERFECT day!! The flowers that Jacqueline did were absolutely amazing!!! It was so beautiful and I'm so glad that we have these beautiful reminders of what an amazing day that was!!! Thank you ShaiLynn for capturing our perfect day!!! And thank you to everyone else who worked so hard on that day:

Hair & Makeup: Jamie Anderson
Cake: Randi Hillaker (and her mom, Diane, and sister, Katie)
Officiant: Bob Anger (Randi's Dad)
Videographer: Brandon Evans
Catering: LDS Hospital (Special thanks to Nicole Emmett)
DJ: Highspeed DJ (DJ Mark Lofgren)
Our Wedding Party: Tim, Rob, Shaun, Eric, Carl, JB, Heather, Jenny, Amy, Amanda, Wendy, and Laura

Honeymoon Tragedy and Bridals!!!

Ok so the honeymoon was fantastic...but it didn't last long. Unfortunately on Monday we came back early from our honeymoon because Sunday I was incredibly ill and by that evening I was throwing up. :( It was so sad. By morning I was just so ready to go home. I think it was just all the stress of the wedding and the heat and being away from home that all hit me at once and I was done for. I was fine until Sunday. Friday we checked into our beautiful hotel room; Saturday we wandered through Mandalay Bay (where we spent a small fortune on the most frivolous items ever: flip flops), the Luxor, Excalibur, and MGM Grand. We had lunch in the Luxor at the Pyramid Cafe and it was delicious!!! We ended up spending most of our money on room service...their menu was SPECTACULAR!!!! I'll have to download the video we took of our amazing room sometime. Unfortunately the fun didn't last. :( We came home and all week we've been moving my stuff into Jonathan's apartment and getting settled in. Today we got cable and internet installed so I am a happy camper!!! I can now check blogs and facebook on a regular basis and hopefully post more!!! YAY!!!! So tragedy on the honeymoon but it all ended up ok. :D Now we have more time to start out together and relax!!!

Other than the honeymoon tragedy we are excitedly awaiting the day where I receive my marriage license in the mail so I can go legally change my name and for our wedding pictures to arrive!!! Since I don't have my wedding pictures to post yet I figure I'll post some of my favorite shots from my bridals!!! ShaiLynn is a good friend I've known since jr. high and she is AMAZING!!! She did the engagements, bridals, and wedding and I can't wait to see how the wedding pictures turned out! Here's a few of my favorite bridals!!!

WE'RE MARRIED!!!!!! The Wedding Day Details!!!!

I'm SO excited that the day has come!!! We finally got married!!!! It was the absolute most perfect day of my life so far and I am incredibly happy with it!!! The day started out kinda rainy and I was behind schedule but we got my hair and makeup done on time!!! My friend from my old college cosmetology/barbering class, Jamie Anderson, was responsible for my hair and makeup and she did an amazing job!!! I felt so beautiful because of her!!! After I left her salon I headed down to Noah's in South Jordan (www.mynoahs.com) so I could get dressed and ready for the ceremony to be held there at 2:30pm.

Everything was running pretty smoothly but we had a few small hangups in the preparation so we ended up starting the ceremony at about ten to 3pm. It was ok, though, because I was craving my weakness...Coca-Cola Classic!!! Good thing Jonathan's beautiful mom is incredibly sweet and sent one of the groomsmen, Carl (who has been Jonathan's friend since grade school and traveled here from AZ to be there for him) to go on a coke run!!! THANK YOU CARL AND KAREN!!! It was much needed and greatly appreciated! It was a beautiful service!!! It was short and sweet...maybe thirty minutes. My good friend from work, Randi, (who made the cake for me even though she was due to be induced the day of the wedding) offered her father who is a baptist preacher to officiate the marriage. He did an AMAZING job!!! It was absolutely fantastic!!! Randi's mom and sister had to deliver the cake and finish decorating it with the flowers the day of the wedding obviously but it looked PERFECT!!! Her family really helped us out on this whole wedding and we really appreciate everything they did! (She ended up having the baby I think around 8pm!!! SO cute!!! Congrats Randi!!!) We recorded the ceremony so we could have that reminder of it. I walked down the aisle with my Dad to the song Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars (that song gives me chills every time and I don't care how cliche it is). When the ceremony finished we walked down the aisle together for the first time as husband and wife to the song Marry You also by Bruno Mars (again, cliche, but I don't care...it was perfect).

After the ceremony concluded the guests mingled while we sneaked out to take a few shots with our AWESOME photographer, ShaiLynn Draper (www.shailynnphotography.com). We had an amazing luncheon after that including a choice of Rosemary Chicken or Chili Rubbed Mahi served with an AMAZING risotto with caramelized shallots and herb infused olive oil. There were also sides of roasted red potatoes, steamed carrots and asparagus and a spring mix salad with a beautiful balsamic vinaigrette. The beverages that were served were a blended raspberry lemonade and a white grape spritzer. The food was AMAZING and it was catered by Jonathan's work...LDS Hospital. Yes...hospital food that tastes FANTASTIC!!! It's true!!!

When the luncheon ended, the DJ, Mark Lofgren (Highspeed DJ), started playing the music for the reception as the LDS hospital staff served a beautiful spread including an amazing antipasti platter, a meat & cheese platter, and an amazing assortment of fruit. They also served a decadent chocolate cup dessert platter filled with a chocolate mousse that Jonathan made himself and mixed with chopped strawberries and raspberries!!! It was TO DIE FOR!!!! They did such a great job!!!

As guests started showing up we chatted and laughed and danced. It was incredibly fun to see all of my friends and family and meet new people. We all had a really good time!! We cut the cake, threw the bouquet, and tossed the garter about halfway through the ceremony and it was all fun!! We danced our first dance to Halo by Beyonce (yes...I know...I'm SO cliche with the music...again...DON'T care). My dad and his mom cut in about halfway through the song and then with about a quarter of the song left my dad danced with his mom while we finished our first dance as husband and wife. The decorations were EXACTLY how I had imagined them in my head! It was so beautiful and the entire day was just PERFECT!!!

After the guests started leaving I went to get changed and we all cleaned up and went our separate ways. Jonathan and I headed to the hotel to check in and get our things put away before we went out to meet some of his family and friends over at Habit's (a bar) for karaoke night. We had two cokes and took off to go back to the hotel for the night. We had an awesome time but we were exhausted!!! We didn't tell them til we checked out but we stayed at the same hotel as his mom and stepdad!!! HAHAHA They didn't even know until we called them on our way out!!!

This morning we got up and took our time getting ready and packed up. When we checked out we realized that we had forgotten a few things both at my mom's house and his apartment so we made those stops before we took off for the honeymoon. We got sidetracked, though, when we were getting closer to the District....we ended up stopping at Target and Rue 21 for a pre-honeymoon splurge!!! Hahaha!!! I got a whole bunch of summer shirts and he got Criminal Minds Season 5 (our favorite show) and a couple pairs of shorts and some cologne for the trip. We figured we packed too much cold season stuff and didn't have enough warm weather gear for where we were going! We finished at about 11 am and hit the road on our way to Vegas!!! The drive wasn't too bad...we made a few stops and switched drivers a few times (neither one of us really enjoys driving and I was exhausted and was in desperate need of a nap at one point). We made it at about 5 pm and it was a good thing!!! Hahaha.

We checked in at our hotel and let me tell you...IT IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!! Jonathan's best man, Tim, got this hotel all set up for us so all we had to do was pay when we left! He did SUCH a good job because the room we are in is INCREDIBLE!!!! It's a suite on the 10th floor of the Renaissance Marriott hotel near the convention center out here! We took a video tour of the hotel room so maybe if I can figure out how to work the camera I will post it on here when we get back!!! The staff here is absolutely amazing and we are being treated like royalty and getting star treatment!!! The views of the strip are absolutely amazing!!! So far we are having a really really great time!!! Tonight we are planning to just take it easy and relax because it has been such a busy and stressful three months...we're just going to lay back and relax this week and wander the strip. I'll post more about it later but I've already written a novel so I am going to go spend some time with my new hubby!!! I LOVE that we can start our lives together now and I'm so excited for what lies ahead!!! I'll post more pictures of my bridals, the wedding, and our honeymoon as soon as I can!!! Can't wait to share them with you!! Thank you to all of our families and friends who have made this whole experience absolutely perfect!!! We are one hundred percent satisfied with the whole wedding and honeymoon experience and we appreciate all of the hard work that went into this for us! Thank you so much!!! We love you all!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm really beginning to feel the pressure!!! It's the final countdown to the wedding day and I'm feeling so many emotions! I'm so excited, stressed, scared, happy, anxious, etc...the list goes on and on. We've worked so incredibly hard on this and we've come so far. Now it's crunch time and things are getting incredibly tense for me. Part of me is really excited and calm and part of me is chaotic and scared. This is such a HUGE step for me...I thought it was scary the first time I got married...second time around is far more terrifying. Don't get me wrong...I'm SUPER excited but I can't help but feel nervous! I scheduled myself off only one day before the wedding...I'm really starting to regret that. I work Monday and Tuesday and I'm wishing I gave myself those two days to run all of my last minute errands and take care of things at home before the big move and name change process. Hopefully I can get a lot of it done this weekend so I won't feel as stressed come Monday and Tuesday. Now I'm rambling so I'll end this now but I just needed to vent a bit! Wish us luck!!!

Did You See?!!!

Did you see our wedding day ticker on the right of this page?!!! TWO WEEKS AND THREE DAYS!!!! We're SO close now!!! The countdown begins!!!

The Last Four Months

Wow...I really suck at this posting on my blog business!! Hopefully I'll get better at it soon!!! So to update you on the last four months...

In January we had my mom's birthday, in February was Amy's, March was Jonathan's and April is mine.  It's sort of a family tradition to take each other out to dinner where the birthday person chooses then have some sort of dessert (usually cake) with ice cream afterwards. It's always a fun time and it's sort of the highlight of each month to have a birthday to celebrate together!!

In February Jonathan and I took our engagement pictures!!! We went to Gardner Village to shoot them and then headed to a little home decor shop off of 8th West for a few more. Our photographer, ShaiLynn, is the absolute best!! I was freaking out because two days before the shoot I got a big fat cold sore on the corner of my upper lip and it was swollen up so bad!!! ShaiLynn did SUCH a good job...you can't even tell I ever had a cold sore and the pictures turned out beautifully!! Here are a few of my favorites!!

This past four months has been dedicated to working hard to prepare for our wedding next month!!!  We've only got three weeks left and we're so close to having everything done!!  I just had my bridals shoot on Saturday and I'm SO excited to see how they turn out!!!  I'm sure I'll be posting those pictures as soon as I receive them and when that happens Jonathan will be banned from the internet so he doesn't "accidentally" see the dress before the big day!!!  We are so excited and it is going to be such a big day for both of us!!!

As far as everything else goes...we're both just working hard.  Jonathan is the head chef at LDS Hospital and he works really hard at it.  He loves his job which is really nice!  I still work at the bank and working hard at that.  Other than that there's really nothing too exciting happening with us other than planning the wedding.  It'll be nice when the day comes and we can relax and start doing other fun things!!  I promise I'm going to try to post more often after the wedding...our first goal is to get a handle on the bills then the second we have any breathing room we're getting cable and internet!!!  Hopefully it won't take too long!  See ya soon  :D

My Plan For Healing

Sorry it's been so long since I've even looked at blogger! I've been super busy with work and what not. Things are going well here! I'm not sure if I have really updated you guys in a while. I am still working at the bank full time trying to get out of debt from the divorce and I'm finally starting to see some progress even though it's small progress, it's progress! I'm now dating a guy I met online a few years back named Jonathan and he treats me better than I've ever been treated even though we both have our issues! He's a chef from Michigan and he works at LDS Hospital as the head chef....he mostly does the room service side of it but he helps with the cafeteria and does caterings and things like that. He loves it and that's what matters! We started casually dating when he moved to Utah in June last year and so far it's been awesome! We've had some really rocky roads and some pretty incredible fights but we always work through them somehow. He's adorable and he treats me really well...even though I have a lot of crap to deal with! Haha! I'm lucky to have him in my life and I'm thankful for him every day.

The past few months I've just been working on a plan to get myself well from my past not only financially but emotionally, physically, mentally, etc. I think I've grown a lot in the past two years since the divorce and it's definitely made me stronger. Even though I still have weak times I seem to get through them a little bit faster every time. Jonathan is trying to get me to go to the gym with him because he thinks it'd be incredibly beneficial to my healing process...I agree completely with the theory but OH MY GOSH IS IT HARD?!! I have always hated exercising...I'll admit it!! I am super lazy and I like being super lazy!!! Haha!! I know it's best for me so we've decided to go just once a week. We started three weeks ago...I have been to the gym once in the three weeks we've been going!!! LOL!!!! Ooops!!! Guess I'll need a little more motivation to conquer this venture of mine!!!

So my plan for improving myself is as follows:

Financially-Put every extra penny I can towards my debts and don't purchase anything I don't have the money for right here right now! If it's not already in my bank account...it's not going on my cards!

Physically-Stick to my goal of going to the gym once a week and slowly progressing to go more often throughout the week. This is exceptionally hard for me given my work really exhausts me and scheduling isn't easy when you're tired already. I have to remember that even though I'm tired now...I'll be much more energetic later if I just stick with it!

Emotionally-Take time out for myself every once in a while to just focus on my own emotional well being. I have to give myself credit for things I do right and stop beating myself up til I can't take anymore when I mess up....I need to allow myself some room to make mistakes and forgive myself when I do have a lapse.

Mentally-Take a break from everything sometimes. Sometimes I just need to relax and not do a thing that will constantly fill up my brain with junk to keep myself from breaking down. Maybe then the breakdowns won't be as climatic and they'll even out more so I won't feel like I'm starting at square one every time. I need to quiet my brain for a while every so often.

Another thing I'd like to work on is my friendships and relationships with my family. Having a good support system and being able to share each one's experiences and triumphs and joys is something I've always wanted to be able to do. I feel it's incredibly important to make the ones you love feel important by being there for them and reaching out to them. If you're reaching out to your loved ones it closes the gap so that they can reach back comfortably.

I'm hoping that my plan works and really helps me to grow as a person. I know I'm not perfect and probably never will be but I need to get myself to a place where I can feel comfortable with who I am. I hope that this will help me be a better person and better friend, daughter, and sister. I love you all and appreciate you all with all my heart even if I show it poorly if at all. Thanks for listening to my rattlings! It really does mean a lot to me.

A Tribute To My Sisters

I just wanted to take a few minutes to write about how much I absolutely adore and love my sisters! They are the best sisters a girl could ask for and I am so thankful to have them in my life and to have their support. I love spending time with them just goofing off and being myself. I love that even though I make LOTS of mistakes or they don't agree with me I know that they still love me. I am so proud to be your sister guys! Love you!

Heather

Jenny

Amy

Jonathan's 24th Birthday!

March 12 was Jonathan's 24th birthday! We both took the day off work and did birthday things all day! We started off with shopping at The Gateway where we got Jonathan some awesome clothes from Hollister and Pacsun. We goofed off for a while and then decided it was time for lunch. I suggested Happy Sumo since he'd never been there and it was AWESOME!!! We goofed around at Happy Sumo for a while and then it was time to go back to his apartment to kill some time before we had my family's traditional birthday party for him...dinner and a movie complete with cake and ice cream! We headed out to my sister's house to meet for dinner. Jonathan picked out Texas Roadhouse for dinner which was delicious and the perfect place to goof off and joke around! Nothing like a good steak and some awesome people to be around for a good time! After dinner we headed back to my sisters' condo to decide the next step in our adventure. We got talking about different movies we liked (which is actually pretty normal) and we decided to go on a Quest to find the movie That Thing You Do! which turned out to be more difficult than we thought yet successful nonetheless! We went back to the condo and turned the movie on while we pigged out on cake and ice cream! Heather wanted to make the cake but she ran out of time so she bought him a chocolate cake with mint frosting and it was superb! When the movie ended it was late and we were all homeward bound. We had a lot of fun and I think it turned out to be a really successful birthday for Jonathan! Here are a few pictures of our day. (I don't know why we didn't take pictures at Texas Roadhouse or at my sisters' condo but here's a few from earlier on)!

Birthday Outfit! Shopping Success!

Sushi @ Happy Sumo!!! Yummmm!!!

Waiting for Our Sushi!

Goofing Off!