.. 2011 at a glance or a stare ..

well as tradition here is a recap of this year. oh boy was it a year. 

. january .

we hit up a jazz game. pretty much ruled, we got to eat in the VIP room and get unlimited snacks. it was awesome.

. february .

i found out i had TOS {thoracic outlet syndrome} and went through a battery of tests to determine i had a extra baby rib in there. scheduled surgery for august. yep august was the first opening. shoot me. and cody applied for graduation!

. march .

i convinced cody to get a new puppy. we flew to oklahoma to pick up the little pup who was a champ on the plane. he went through about 10 names until we landed on jet. 

. april . 

cody finally graduated {sort of. he walked and still had a class to finish off}. it was a party. and he applied for a job with the air national guard. he did get an interview which apparently is a pretty hard thing to do your first try but was turned down only because his one test score was 4 points lower than the other candidate. 

. may . 

i started to eat healthier and getting my butt kicked weekly , 3x to be exact by my personal trainer. who has successfully tightened me up and helped me loose quite a few pounds. cody still worked hard at school and i just worked. 

. june . 

while working hard cody gave himself a hernia. oh boy. we scheduled surgery for the last day in june so he could have the 4th of july weekend to recover. 

. july . 

our days were filled with work and then taking jet on walks all over provo to enjoy the summer. we also started working out plans for our cruise. it is going to rock.

. august .

we went on a 7 day cruise to the south caribbean and it wast the BOMB. i loved every minute of it, minus being sea sick the first night. i had that baby rib removed just 4 days before my birthday. had my 27th birthday, drugged while laying in the lazy boy and watching football and movies, might have been one of the best birthdays ever. 

. september . 

we decided to get jet fixed after a slightly embarrassing BBQ at cody's house when he proceeded to hump our 6 year old cousin. yep embarrassing. so he got the chop. he did great and was back to himself that night.

. october .

cody went to memphis for a week and got to see the millions of packages, miles of conveyor belts and hundreds of planes in operation at the FEDEX headquarters. he also got to fly in the $8,000 an hour simulator to paris. he was smitten. we also went to thriller, annual tradition. 

. november .

cody went to SEMA, the largest car show in the world held in las vegas every november. he loved it, every minute of it. we got to watch one of cody's brothers get sealed to his sweetheart in the SLC temple, it was a treat. we celebrated 6 years of being 'stuck' together, and cody's 28th birthday.. geez oldy pants. i had my two wisdom teeth pulled. it was smooth, minus the cracking noises. i was healed up in three days and no swelling. we had thanksgiving, great food. and prepped for christmas

. december . 

we got ready for christmas. i helped my mom recover from a knee replacement that happened the middle of november.  jet got to see snow, it is a love / hate relationship. he loves the fluffy stuff hates the slush. he is kind of a pris. oh well we love him.

happy 2011 to you! hope yours was as good as ours!

.. helping a cause, a surrogate santa if you will ..

alright, so it is the season of giving you all.. and so i am going to give you another opportunity to help if you so choose. i think it is a great cause and could be super rewarding if you put in the effort.

my youngest brother j* is prepping his eagle project. he has decided to do a 'sub4santa' if you will. we are calling it 'surrogate santa'. we are trying to provide a christmas for multiple families that are in need of gifts and clothing. so if you have some spare change or wanna buy some clothes for those who need then this is the place for you. 

we are collecting stuff until the 20th of December and hope to have things dropped off that week to the families. so if you click here it will take you to the blog with all the info on it that you would need. or you can go to www.surrogatesanta.blogspot.com. and even if you can't help out, spread the word to those who might be able to help. remember every penny helps!

thanks peeps!!

happy holidays!!

.. a legend, at least in my house ..

well, today is a spectacular day indeed. 

it is my dad's birthday. no i will not do a list of things i love about him, it would be a book. seriously, he is old and everything would have a story. so i just thought i would list a few. and give you a great picture to look at.

this cute old guy is my pops. i am probably one of the luckiest people in the world to have him as my dad. he has been the best support and taught me great and wise things. this guy gave me my affinity for reading, it is a blessing and a curse. he also is the one who taught me how to work hard and to finish the job. he never shys away from what needs to be done, but rather jumps in with both feet and does it to the end. he taught me the importance of school and how important it is to have a degree. he spends countless hours hanging out with me, especially when cody worked saturdays and I was home alone. he would let me tag along to the grocery store, help him do the yard work and have drives where we could catch up and just talk. he is one of my greatest supports and truly a best friend. wouldn't trade him for the world. 

so dad, happy birthday. i am so glad you were born so I could come and have a great example of how to live life and be a good person. i will spare the embarrassing stuff, like your age. but just know you are old, but I love you. 

happy birthday pops

.. the date that comes every year & signifies how long you have been 'stuck' together ..

two posts in one day?!?! what in the?!?

okay.. it is because it is our anniversay. ha ha yep, 6 years. dang. so instead of the long post that i did last year i thought i would just list the lessons we learned with a picture..

. 2005.

. adjusting to change takes effort on both sides, and requires daily efforts for success .

. 2006 . 

. remembering each other every day makes all the difference in the world .

. 2007 . 

. having a family means more than you ever could imagine .

. 2008 . 

. a positive attitude can make all the difference in the world .

. 2009 . 

. hard work pays off, just stick to it .

. 2010 .

.  loss is one of the hardest life lessons, but if you stick together life isn't that bad .

. 2011 .

. giving 100% of yourself to the other pays off ten fold .

happy 6th anniversary babe, here is to yet another year being 'stuck' with you!

.. its your day of birth ..

alright so it is the hubby's birthday and since I haven't ever done this for him.. here are 28 reasons why I love Cody.

1. His hilarious sense of humor

{mini golf summer 2010}

2. the way he claims he will stay awake during movies but always falls asleep

3. the way he takes care of me when i am sick or hurt

4. how he loves jet and tyke

5. his willingness to put up with my retarded requests

6. his dedication to aviation

7. tickle fights in bed late at night, and how i always win

8. his sense of adventure and trying new things

{jazz game january 2011}

9. that he works for delta and i can fly for free {don't judge it is a rockin benefit}

{washington dc may 2011}

10. how his mind is made up of gears and oil {it revolves around cars and planes}

11. his sweet thoughts and gifts

12. his ability to handle my emotional swings and crazy rants

13. loving my family, even if they are crazy

14. being patient with me when i act retardedly

15. how he still loves me even when i make him sleep in 'coffin' sheets. {i have a thing with sheets in my bed. they have to be pulled tight with no wrinkles, i mean none. on our first night in our apartment i made the bed and he got it and asked me if i was trying to kill him by putting him in a coffin cause they were so tight}

16. how he knows when i say maybe i really mean yes, i just don't want to sound mean or demanding

17. how he believes in me and my dreams

18. his back / shoulder rubs, they are divine.

19. he allows me to have an addiction to books and reading

20. his family, they are some of the most wonderful people i know

21. how obsessive he is about his car {it is always the one to get cleaned and vacuumed, when we had tyke he wouldn't let him ride in his car because of his fur.}

22. how he supports my efforts to be healthier by working out and eating better

23. his bear hugs, seriously the best

24. his work ethics. he works 2 jobs and goes to school, and when i was in school he worked full time and did school so i could finish my degree

25. how he loves me for me

{maui august 2010}

26. how on our wedding day despite being sick and in the hospital he powered through the day, thanks to many naps, and made it one of the best days of my life

27. his beautiful blue eyes

28. because he is my knight in shining armor and i wouldn't trade him for the world.

{new years eve 2010}

happy birthday my prince!

happy oct.. i mean november!

alright so I am terribly lame, I know. I got so busy with work and stuff at home that when it came time to try and update the blog all i wanted to do was sleep or not be around a computer. ha ha. so my bad. so here is a catch up of our october. cody went on a trip with the school on the 14th for a week. he toured the FEDEX facilities out there and flew in a simulator that costs $8,000 an hour to run. yes I did see about a million pictures of planes and listened to hours of stories and factoids he had to give. but i love him. so, yep just me and jet bug at home. so our nights consisted of late night photo sessions and watching loads of greys anatomy. love that show. 

he was home for a week, and in that week we did this.. 

went and saw thriller, great tradition we have. it is a dance show in utah and it is amazing. fun for halloween and even has funny stuff in it. you can check it out here. this year we went with my brother m* and his wife e*. 

we carved pumpkins, this one is from another time we did it cause I forgot to take a picture of the one i did on halloween, don't worry it was lame. 

i dressed up at a ramp agent, aka cody at delta. it was awesome. we looked like twins for the day. ha ha. i did this for work, in attempts to win a costume contest yep sure didn't. 

{jet tried on the headphones.. too funny}

jet was a devil for halloween, pictures to come. he filled the part well and even left his costume alone. grand. 

we hiked the y with cody's mom. her and i had never done it so we did it, and took jet with us. he was a trooper and made it up and almost down on his own, and he slept the rest of the day only getting up to eat and drink. splendid. 

i made a few desserts, I have gotten into baking and decorating stuff it is actually pretty fun. i made spider cupcakes, cute forgot to photograph them. with the left over icing i made sugar cookies. we made frankensteins. 

then sure enough cody left us again for SEMA, the car show in vegas, for 4 days. So you guessed it, pictures, greys and loving the pup.

so i guess it is on to november. we have a bunch coming up it seems. cody just got back from vegas, he is taking his stage check in flying as we speak. his little brother r* gets married tomorrow, so we will be doing that wedding party stuff again. my mom has a knee replacement on the 16th. cody turns 28... ha ha! and we have our 6th wedding anniversary on the 22nd. thanksgiving is on the 24th, and dad's birthday is on the 26th. talk about a packed month. so i guess i will be updating the blog a bunch in the upcoming weeks. 

happy november!!

.. planes, planes and more planes. did i mention planes? ..

the last stop on our cruise was to st. maarten. cody had done alot of research on this island and couldn't wait until we could get there. if we could have stayed there the whole time i am sure he would have loved it. we woke up around 7 and ate breakfast and were off the boat as soon as they would let us. 9am. we found a taxi driver that would take us to the infamous beach, Maho beach. he drove us around the island to the french side, this island is half and half one side is dutch the other french. he dropped us off at the beach around 10 and we stayed there until 2p. yeah, lived there you could say. here is why.. 

{welcome to st. maarten!}

cody, as you know is a pilot and studying to be one so naturally this would be the ultimate island/ beach for him. so we stayed there all day.


{m* & cody waiting for the plane}

lucky for us girls the beach and water were way nice and so it wasn't terrible being there for a while. we watched about a million planes land and take off, ok probably like 20 but still.. a lot.


{girls r to l c*, e* & me}



{we could hear it and didn't know how close it was until right after this picture}


{side view so you can see how close it gets..}

 the boys even got daring and went and held onto the fence when the planes took off and got sand blasted in the process. goofballs. after being there the better part of the day we left.


{board is updated daily with the flights coming in}

 we stopped at a mcdonald's there cause we were all hungry and needed to decide what to do. m* and e* wanted to go to a nude beach and t* and c* wanted to get on the ship and cody and i just wanted to shop. so we were tossed. well we asked the cab driver if he could take t* and c* to the boat and then just drop cody and i off near town and we would walk and then drive m* and e* to the nude beach. sounded great, until we hit traffic. we sat for a while in just a line of cars waiting to get out of the town. they only had a one lane road so no way to side track that one.


{girls in the back of the van!}

so, after debate m* and e* decided it wasn't worth the risk of being late to the boat to go see the beach. so we found another flea market and they got out with us. t* and c* went back to the boat. we shopped for about 45 minutes. way cool shopping, i wish we had more time there. we started to walk back and then realized that we had about 15 minutes to get on board.


{took this right before warning honk}

we entered the harbor and heard the ship honk giving us a warning to get on in 10 minutes or they were leaving. so we ran. we made it on, barely. after getting on we headed straight for the pools and showers to get all the sand off from maho. after we dipped in the pool we showered up for dinner.

tonight was a special night, it was our last dinner on the ship. we had grown to really like mario and jr. they were awesome. predicted our needs and were fun to add to it. so we decided to give them an extra tip on top of what we were charged for already. when the guys pulled out money to give to them, mario started to cry. he didn't want to take it but we told him we wanted him to have it. he told us that it meant a lot and he was so grateful for it. it touched my heart, i felt so bad. he has a family and kids that live in nicaragua that he never gets to see because he is on the ship and he just sends money for them to live. how sad! so we were all emotional. after this we decided to cheer up with another stop at the comedy club. after an half hour show cody and i headed back to the room to pack. our flight we were trying to catch left at 11 and we had to be off the boat by 8 to make it in time. so we packed and hit the hay. we got up the next morning around 6.

we did the self assist off the boat which was nice cause we each only had a backpack and a carry on bag. however some people trying to get off with us had like 17 bags and kids, what were they thinking. the cruise offered to take your luggage off and have it for you when you got off. should have done that crazy lady. we found a cab to take us to the airport and got there around 7:30. we got through all the customs and what not and to the gates. we realized there were two flights that left at 9 and 9:30 that we could try and catch. so we decided to try for it. we missed the atlanta flight, it was full and ended up making the NYC flight, yep 3 weeks in a row in new york. love my life. we didn't get to sit next to each other but that is alright. we made it to new york and ran straight to the direct flight to salt lake. it was pretty tight and some how we both made it on and sat next to each other. what are the odds? we got home around 6 and to our house by 7. it was so nice to be home but i seriously missed the vacation.

so we highly recommend a cruise if you haven't been on one. it rocked. we for sure will be doing another one!

.. take a picture, it will only cost you $20 ..

so since i had bad heat rash and the last day of the cruise was st. maarten and cody was dying to go there we decided that on st. kitts we would stay out of the sun and have an easy day so my heat rash would go away or drop a bunch so i could have more fun on st. maarten. so e*,m*, t* and c* all went to a beach and we stayed close to the ship.



we got off and walked around the shops there. immediately a guy with 2 baby monkeys walks up and drops them in cody's arms. he tells us to take a picture.



so we do, then he takes them and moves them a few more times and more pictures,




then he puts them on me.


oh yeah, nice. the little on clenched on to my boob, nice and the older one went for my earrings.





what the? the guy took them back and then told us we owed him $20. for reals? lame-o. cody paid it although not sure why we gave him $20. any how we walked around the marina and shopped a bit. we stopped at a handmade ice cream parlor and got a scoop. really good ice cream!

{cody also go a lime soda, he said it was the best the whole trip}

after the ice cream we shopped a bit more






{cody read this as "comin" powder and laughed for a good 5 minutes in the store, perv}

and then went back on the boat. we decided to take a nap and ended up sleeping for 2 hours, but it was so nice! we got up and ready for dinner and met the rest of the gang at the dining room. we ate and somehow the girls got duped into doing a dance with the waiters, something they did every night. our waiter mario thought it was fun to pick on us and have us dance with him every night. so he would pick either a person, the guys or the girls. it was our night. so we danced and laughed the whole time. too funny!!

after dinner we decided to try the comedy show, the previous comedians had gotten off the boat in barbados and st. lucia and there were a few nights we didn't have one there. so we decided to try them. the dude sucked so bad, no one in the whole club laughed at his jokes. too sad. we got up and left about 10 minutes in. we decided we would go to the magic show in the theater. the magician is named rand woodbury. he was actually pretty good and funny to watch. the show was about an hour and a half and great. after the show we walked on all the decks and checked out the mini golf they had on the top of the boat. c* and i went to level 3 and walked out there where the water was close and lit a nice blue. 

then it was time to hit the hay cause the next day was st. maarten and i had already been told we were to be up and going by 6:30 so we could be off as soon as they would let us..