As much as I like our new one, I miss it. 

A lot.

The Big 3-0 in VEGAS!!!

Matt turned 30 last week! Weird. And for the first time I think ever, I was actually able to surprise him and do something big for him. His friend Mark's birthday is 3 days before his, so Mark's wife, Adria, and I have been planning this vegas trip since last year. 

I didn't realize how hard it would be to try to keep Matt from finding out about it. In the end he knew we were going to Vegas, but thought it was just us two. 

We flew in super duper early Friday morning and started vegas off right with some delicious crepes at the Paris Hotel, did some shopping, and went to the wax museum (which was awesome). We also went to the Pawn Stars pawn shop. We love watching that show. We were hoping Chum-lee would be there, but no such luck. They are all too cool now. 

 Mark and Adria weren't getting into town until around 3 so I had to stall until then. They showed up to our hotel room and Matt was in the bed watching tv while I was crouched down in the bathroom trying to record Matt's reaction when Mark walked in. Apparently Mark was a little freaked out walking into a room that had clothes and a phone sitting out and told Adria "We gotta get outta here!"

Adria said the boys stared at each other for quite a while before either of them said anything. I'm not sure if it was because of shock or because they weren't wearing their glasses. 

After some more shopping and WAY too much crab at the Bellagio buffet, we had another surprise for them.  At the botanical gardens, they were grabbed from behind by the Erbs, Todd & Kristin. Then the partying began. 

Adria apparently has some sweet hook-ups and got us into the Palms VIP for free Saturday night. So we danced the night away while surrounded by some crazy people. And lets not forget our elevator ride and exit with Ryan Cabrera. If you don't know who he is, don't feel bad. Google him. 

Our big B-Day surprise for the boys was their Exotic Racing experience at the Las Vegas Speedway. I knew after Matt was driving our rental Infinity G37 like a maniac, causing Adria to threaten to walk, that it would be PERFECT for him. They had some sweet cars and I think they had fun. He ended up driving the Audi R8. Maybe for his 40th we'll upgrade to the Lamborghini.

 It was so good seeing our friends for a weekend. (And my sister and her family that live in Henderson :) We really miss everyone. If anyone else wants to meet up in Vegas, just let us know and we're there!

Happy Birthday Matty. XOXOXOXO

They found us.

I thought we could get away with not talking in our new ward for just a little longer... guess not. We tried sitting in the back and laying low, but that didn't work. In fact it backfired on us because we are giving talks AND we still haven't really met anyone. I actually don't mind giving a talk, I just feel bad for everyone sitting in the congregation listening to be stutter and most likely cry. We're talking next week so i'm trying to start preparing my talk on Faith today. I read this quote in a conference talk and loved it. 

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."

Elder Richard G Scott goes on to say, 

"Righteous character is a precious manifestation of what you are becoming. Righteous character is more valuable than any material object you own, any knowledge you have gained through study, or any goals you have attained no matter how well lauded by mankind. In the next life your righteous character will be evaluated to assess how well you used the privilege of mortality."

It made me realize that it doesn't matter how great my goals are, or how wonderful the person I want to become is, if i'm not consistently living my life according to those goals & according to my faith, I will get nowhere. 

I think I have some work to do and some changes to make  :) 

Yay For Visitors!

Our good ol' friends the Erbs paid us a little visit last weekend. A much needed visit :) Unfortunately us girls were told we wouldn't need our cameras for our first night together, so we don't have pictures of the AMAZING ice castles we visited in Midway, but i'm hoping to go back soon. We finished off that night in steam rooms, hot tubs and a pool at the Zermott Resort. Awesome.

We got a ton of snow that weekend. Not as much as we were supposed to, but still more than we've had since we've been here. I loved it. And so did the dogs.  I did realize that snow boots might be a good investment for me. 

Erbs: Thanks for visting!!Good times. Maybe next time our house will be done. Come again soon! xoxo

FROGTAPE

I like to think there are other people out there like me. People who have no talent whatsoever when it comes to decorating, especially painting. It literally took me a whole day and a half to paint one wall. It wasn't really even a huge wall. Granted, I did some texturing I learned from HGTV, and that took a little more time.
  

Still. HGTV also said you can do a whole room in a day... not me :)

(ps thats not me in the picture. I may be really blonde right now but I only WISH I had that tan, and a butt)

Our bedroom on the other hand still is not finished after over a week. I've decided stripes & blue tape are my enemies. 

But by day 8, after AT LEAST 8 (maybe 9) trips to Lowes, I've found a new best friend. So I thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone else is planning on painted stripes anytime soon. I wish I'd known about it before...

GENIUS. 

It's 1000 times better than the regular blue tape. My lines were pretty much perfect. I could have had the room done DAYS earlier had I known about it. 

*sigh*

I'll be done tomorrow. Finally. 

Thank You Frog Tape.

Say WHAT?!

How did I JUST find out Krispy Kreme has a DRIVE-THRU!?

Good thing i'm starting Yoga again on Monday. 

In with the New...

I saw this message from Kristin today:

"Hey, I know you just moved and everything, but I NEED to see some current blog posts. Furniture purchases, dogs eating snow, dogs peeing in snow... anything. Thanks. Miss you more than you know."

First of all, I'm a little surprised someone, even Kristin, still looks at our blog.

Second of all...Miss you too!

Third of all, If I have to do posts of our dogs peeing in the snow, I would probably say its time we shut down the blog because no blog-worthy things ever happen to us. :) Which is probably almost true. We aren't that exciting.

Any hoo. We've been in Utah for 4 weeks. I'm super homesick, but I love our new home :) I like to relate it to Betty White. Old and cute.

The dogs love their big backyard, and the snow. I had never heard a dog's teeth chatter before. Matt bought them a heating blanket then said "I thought about getting one for you too but..." Its cool Matt, dogs come first. I have my sweet new Zebra Snuggie to keep me warm.

I felt bad about them having to ride in the car for 10 hours. Then I turned around and saw this and I didn't feel so bad.

And next thing I knew, Matt was back there with them.

At least 4 people have joked with us saying they knew we were from AZ by the way we shoveled the snow on the driveway/walkway. PSH... I thought it was just fine.

I love having deer walking around our neighborhood every once in a while. And speaking of... will someone please tell Matt that Bambi is a BOY. He refuses to believe me.

Its fun decorating the house, picking out paint colors and buying new furniture (good thing i'll be done with school soon so I can get a job) Our favorite is our big leather sectional we just got. (It better be after what Matt and his cousin Nick went thru to get it home). I could easily spend my whole day on it. Not good.

Matt is having fun fixing things up around the house. He's turned into quite the Handy Man. (Or Handy Manny if you're a Disney fan)

I'm doing my externship at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake. I LOVE it. Poor Matt has to listen to all my stories when I get home everyday.

Matt hasn't really had to be gone at all for work since we've been here, which is nice. That was getting ridiculous for a while. We've been able to spend a lot more time together.

Over all, we really like it here. Even though we have no friends yet and we're freezing.

And when they were showing Phoenix on Cops & Coyotes on tv, I teared up a little. Thank goodness for Facebook, Skype, and Southwest Airlines :)

Maybe when we finish up with the furniture and decorating we'll post some pics.

We miss everyone. Come visit us. A Lot.

Sam the Man

Our brother Sammy (Matt's little brother) got his mission call! We are so excited for him. Those of us that could, went to mom & dad's house to be there when he opened it.

I'm not sure who was more anxious/excited, Sam or Mom :)

We all guessed where he was going. Australia, Mexico, Scotland, Provo... and we were all wrong.

PERU!

We are so excited for Sam. And we are so proud of him for making the decision to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He's going to be a great missionary!