Farewell, Tom

Tyson and I said goodbye to our fish, Tom, this afternoon after I discovered our little friend lying at the bottom of his bowl not moving. I had gone into the guest room to feed him and he never came up to the top to get any food. When I saw him lying there I screamed for Tyson, knowing that our little fish wasn't alive. It was so sad! Tom was almost three years old, and I've never known of a beta fish living that long. Tom joined my family December of '07 after my roommate, Katie, couldn't take care of him anymore. She was moving home to Kentucky and couldn't take him with her, so I took him in. Over a year later Tom left us. He was a good little fish and our little pet. We still have Milton, a red beta from Amber's wedding in September of '07. He's still going strong, too! He was part of one of the center pieces at the reception and I took him home. It was three months later when I adopted Tom.

Tom was a member of our family and a great little pet. We will miss him!

photo via Katie Hatton

These Be Our People

Who is not loving season 8 of American Idol?! I love it! I have to admit that we haven't been too thrilled with how the voting is working this season, but I think the top 12 will still work out to be a pretty great top 12. Hopefully! There are still two weeks left of results, including tonight. Which brings me to the following discovery: After last night, we love Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta!

The first few performances were rough, and Tyson and I were a little disappointed listening to a few of our favorites pretty much bomb by picking the wrong songs. I kept saying, "Did they not watch last week's show?" It was a little frustrating. But when contestant 5 Allison Iraheta announced that she was singing "Alone" by Heart I was sold. Before she had said anything I thought in my mind that she should be singing something by Pat Benetar, Heart, or other rocker gals because those kinds of songs fit her voice. And there she went singing one of my favorite songs of all time! And Tyson and I loved it. Totally impressed! She had our vote for sure and also our award for best performance. If only they can get her personality to come out during interviewing...

Then Mr. Adam Lambert shows up on stage singing "Satisfaction" by the Stones, and that performance was out-of-this-world awesome! We couldn't believe how crazy his range is and how great of a performer he is. We had been recording American Idol so we could watch "The Biggest Loser" first (also an amazing show), so by the time we had gotten to Adam's performance the phone lines were open. The entire time he was singing Tyson and I were voting for him like crazy! I hope he gets into the top 12!!

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After last night's show, we're hoping for the following to be put through to the top 12:

-Adam Lambert-

-Allison Iraheta-

Matt Giraud, Mishavonna Henson or Megan Corkrey

Matt and Mishavonna we have always really liked, but they both chose songs that didn't work for them. I'm excited to see the results tonight! Tyson will be at Sounds practice so I have to wait till about 10:00 when he gets home to watch it. I hope I can wait that long!

photos via americanidol.com

Fast Times at Bonneville High

The High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? I went to dances with different guys and had a couple of boyfriends from my school. Senior year my boyfriend was from Hillcrest, the rival school.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Yes, but we never went there at the same time. I graduated with his brother though!

3. Did you car pool to school? No, my twin sister and I went together. But we dropped our little sister off at the middle school first.

4. What kind of car did you have? Amber and I shared a 1991 4-door Geo Metro. It was red and we loved it! We called it "Bean."

5. What kind of car do you have now? a white, 2001 Toyota Camry

6. Its Saturday night in high school and you were: cruising 17th with my friends, having a game night at someone's house, at a dance...good times!

7. It is Saturday night now: date night with my husband, playing games with family...even better times!

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? I worked at Geraldine's Bakery the first two years. Then I started working as a hostess at Carino's my junior year.

9. What kind of job do you do now? I'm still at Carino's! ha ha But I'm a server now, and sometimes I fill in for the managers on their shifts. I worked in Salt Lake at a public relations/advertising agency for a little bit in between. Just trying to finish college!

10. Were you a party animal? No, not really. My friends and I knew how to have a good time though.

11. Were you considered a flirt? Sometimes ha ha

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in choir every year.

13. Were you a nerd? A choir nerd ha ha.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? Never

15. Can you sing the fight song? Stand and give your pledge of honor...wow, I don't think I'll go on with that one!

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Mr. Dresen, Mr. Lemons, Ms. Jansma

17. Where did you sit during lunch? Somewhere close to our lockers in the commons

18. What was your school's full name? Bonneville High School

19. When did you graduate? 2003

20. What was your school mascot? Bee

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Heck no! There are a couple things I would do differently, but other than that it was a pretty good time.

22. Did you have fun at Prom? Depends on which one you're talking about! One of them was a nightmare!

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? Of the three proms I went to I talk to one of the guys I went with every now and then.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Yeah, most likely the ten year

25. Do you still talk to people from school? Of course! I've been really lucky to keep in touch with high school friends.

26. Which four people would you like to tag? Amber, Angie, Criscell, and Ashley

The Temple Reminds Me

I love the temple. Besides home, it is my favorite place to be. On Saturday morning, Tyson and I had the opportunity to attend the 11:00 session at the Idaho Falls Temple with Amber, Che', Aaron, and Britney and it was a very neat experience. I hadn't been to the temple for a session since I received my own endowment so I was really excited to go back. The six of us had a great time, and the spirit was very strong there.

After the temple session Amber, Che', Tyson, and I went to Iggy's for lunch. Delicious! Che' was the only one who had been there so it was a new experience for the rest of us. I highly reccomend the Aloha! burger with chicken!

Tyson and I spent the rest of the afternoon helping Grandma Hill move. She needed us to go to Furniture Row to pick up a new book shelf she bought. It will be super cute in her new town home!

Later we went to my parents' house and played games. Nothing like a night of chocolate, diet pepsi, games, and family! I love spending time with family, and it felt good to have fun and relax with them for the evening. We had a couple games of marbles going and it was a blast. I'm grateful that my family gets along so well that we're all willing to spend our Saturday nights with each other!

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Saturday was great. I loved being able to attend the temple and feel the spirit that resides there. I love my family and Tyson's family, and we're so lucky to have them so close and to get along with them so well. They're my best friends and I love them!

Our Latest Project

Tyson and I have slowly but surely been getting the house decorated. Most of the new decorations we received for our wedding have finally been picked up off the floor and are now hanging on the walls or have been placed nicely somewhere in the house.

Last week I went to a fun store in Idaho Falls called Rod & Vinyl where I found some really fun and heavy-duty picture frames. I also found some knobs and ribbon to put on the wall so the frames can hang from them. After putting those up we decided we wanted to find a table to go underneath everything.

So on Valentine's Day, Tyson and I decided to head over to Real Deals in Idaho Falls to see if they still had the table we really liked. Of course, it wasn't there and we were bummed. But we did find a sign that read "It's a Wonderful Life" to put on the wall above the pictures for only $7. Then Tyson had the brilliant idea of heading over to Fred Meyer to see if they had any furniture sales going on. Luckily they were having a monster of a sale, and everything was an extra 50% off the already clearanced price! So we found ourselves a table for less than $60. It was wonderful! It was a win-win situation because we love the table and it was $300 cheaper than the one we wanted at Real Deals. And our finished product turned out pretty cute. It feels good to be getting somewhere with our decorating!

I've Learned a Lot about this Boy

I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing when I first saw this picture ("What the heck...?") That would be my husband dressed up as the one and only Billy Idol for Halloween when he was in Washington for grad school. He makes a pretty good Billy! I sure have learned a lot about Tyson since we've been married!

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- I always know where he's been in the house because he leaves the drawers and cupboards open.

- He loves to snack. Mostly on candy.

- A Mountain Dew on ice can cure anything.

- He lets me watch shows that I want to watch, even if he doesn't want to watch them.

- He has more track jackets than anyone I know...combined!

- So far, he likes my cooking! Either that or he puts on a dang good front.

- He's very organized and I love it.

- He arranges his DVD collection by genre, which makes him even more perfect for me because I do the same thing.

- He loves 90's music and likes to blast it on his iTunes.

- He likes to snack on Jell-O and pudding packs.

- He has a huge change jar that he uses to get 32 ouncers at the gas station.

-After showering, he likes to throw the wet towel on the bed. I can't seem to get him to put it anywhere else!

- This boy needs a neck massage atleast once a week with all those knots!

- He's an amazing piano player. He can play a lot of hit songs by ear and he's awesome. He also has a beautiful voice, and I love it when he sings and plays the piano for me.

- He has more clothes than I do!

- He's the world's greatest snuggler.

- He likes the smell of cinnamon in the house. Candles, plug-ins...he likes the cinnamon scent. (And some of you know how I feel about that cinnamon!)

- He tells me he loves me every day.

- He puts up with me and I love him so much for it!

Our Honeymoon in Jackson

After our wedding and staying a night at Destination's Inn in Idaho Falls, Tyson and I spent three days in Jackson. We stayed at the Love Ridge Resort at the base of Snow King and we had a blast. We had a great time walking around Jackson and enjoying the fresh air.

Under the famous archway in downtown Jackson


We ate at the Cadillac Restaurant for dinner one of the nights we stayed in Jackson. It was too expensive for our taste at atleast $30 a plate. So we ended up sharing an appetizer and Tyson ordered a cup of soup to go with it. I'm sure our server loved us ha ha. We had lunch that day at Billy's Burgers, which is attached to the Cadillac. It was super good and really inexpensive. I highly reccomend it!

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The following pictures are of the condo we stayed in. It was so much fun! I highly reccomend the Love Ridge Resort for a romantic getaway. It was classy and pretty reasonably priced.

The view from our back porch -
We were on the second floor.

This is what the front of each building at Love Ridge looked like. We all had a garage to park in, it was really nice!

Our bathroom

Our bedroom

The dining room

The kitchen

The living room

The monster icicle outside our window

The view from the front entrance -

Whose the hotty? :)

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It was perfect just going to Jackson for a few days after our wedding instead of going on a huge honeymoon! I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It was so relaxing. We plan on going to New York sometime in the near future, so we will have a little more time to save money and also have something else to look forward to. Married life is great!

Back by Popular Demand

I didn't realize how long it has been since I have posted something on my blog till I had multiple people tell me I need to do it! So here we are, back on the blogging train! The surgery on January 23rd went really well and I've been recovering nicely. I've gone back to work, and now Tyson and I are trying to get back in the swing of things. We've already been married a month, I can't believe it! Time sure does fly.

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These pictures are from our wedding day, starting from the temple that morning down to the reception and after the reception. It was such a wonderful day! And I really appreciate Devin and Clark for providing these pictures for us to forever hold as memories.

my siblings
Tyson's siblings

Amber and I with old roommates Sydney and Kayla

BFF's for almost 23 years!

Tyson's sister, Tacie, holding our neice, Kate (Angie's daughter)

It was fun to see friends from high school!

This is Tyson, Clark's best friend from high school, and he has a little girl.

Another good friend from high school and college - Kristine