Time

Wow, yes I haven't posted since August! I don't really have anything special to post about, I just thought I would let everyone (if anyone) know that we are alive....barely! School began and thus ended our lives. Eric has been extremely busy and even has me typing up his homework so he actually has time to do it! At least I feel like I'm being helpful! Tomorrow Eric has a HUGE important exam, the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) and it is 8 hours long, not to mention $125 just to take it. I hope that he is able to pass his first time around, I know the thought of having to do it all over again would be stressful!
I just had an eye doctors appointment that was a little depressing, apparently my eyes have just gotten dry and irritated while wearing contacts and now have so much irritation and inflammation that I can no longer wear contacts. my prescription went from -1.25 and -1.50 to -4.00 and -2.50 all because the irritation is blurring my vision. The hope is that the irritation gets better before there is any permanent scaring and my prescription goes back to normal and (probably a long shot...) I hope I can wear contacts again someday! I HATE glasses!
Winter is fast approaching Northern Utah...yikes! Wish us luck with the months ahead! P.S. I also hope to update the recipe blog soon, another project that I can't seem to follow through on!

Yellowstone

So we went to Yellowstone with the Alvey's, and it was awesome!!
It was my very first time going to Yellowstone (shocking since my parents go like every year!) and Eric hasn't been since he was a little kid. Kyle and Gina set the whole thing up, and Kyle's brother and his little family came too. We had some sweet cabins, but neglected to get a picture of them. The following pictures are in no particular order, just a few of my favorite pics of the trip.

Here we are making our way down to play by the lake.

Old Faithful doing what she does best.

The only picture of all of us!

The Alvey's

The most amazing waterfall, worth hiking up 300+ stairs!

The geysers were my favorite part of Yellowstone, it was so amazing to me. Yellowstone is such a unique place.

so cool!

The kids got a kick out of feeding the chipmunks...one of them was saving for later he had the hugest cheeks!

Welcome to Yellowstone!

Having breakfast with the kiddos.

iPhones....honestly great cameras!

The elk were just hanging out, like everything was normal. Don't mind all the people walking around them!

We drove home through Jackson to see the Grand Tetons! Good call Gina!

Eric with his bestest buddy...Jack

Very Cool, loved the Tetons!

Kyle and Gina look so funny in the picture...I had to post it, I just love it. We have pretty awesome friends!

More pretty waterfalls.

Kind of a cloudy day, but we look cute!

Eric and Kyle goofing around...as usual.

We cannot wait to back! Yearly trip, no?

Wish List...

Since my birthday is just around the corner, I thought that I best come up with a list...mostly for Eric, but feel free to contribute!

A Butter Bell Crock. I have never used one or anything but I am very intrigued...I must have it! Learn about the butter crock here

A Bio-Ionic Hair straightener to tame the wild beast of madness I call hair.

"Our Best Bites" cookbook, My favorite recipe blog in book form...YES!

A Beach Cruiser....well THIS beach cruiser from Target, LOVE IT!

And if someone is feeling really generous....The WHITE iPhone please!

And just remember...

Golden Afternoon

We have had a few Golden Afternoons here in Logan...let's hope it stays that way!

Heaston's Wedding

My little brother, Heaston - He-man - HeHeHoHo, whatever he may go by was married on Friday! I cannot believe that little He is married!! He met Danielle while she was working, at the sunglasses store in the mall. These two are SO cute together, I have seen Heaston with his girlfriends and Danielle is the first that he just acts himself around, she is so sweet and a perfect addition to our family (she will watch Sports Center with Eric!)
We got to celebrate this wonderful day with them, First we attended the wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake LDS Temple. It was such a beautiful day!
Here is Heaston and Danielle making their first appearance together coming out of the temple

This is me and my siblings. We are all married and out of the house now, I am not sure what my parents are going to do!
After the temple ceremony, we were able to have a luncheon together with all our families at the Brick Oven, It was so good and fun to be together and chat.

My parents

Dallas and Stefany

Me and Eric

The Happy Couple!

Lastly was the reception, It was at the Chillon and it was so beautiful. It is such a nice place for a reception, they take care of everything! Flowers, Decor, Refreshments, The Cake, they do it all!
Here is Dad, Mom, and Heaston in the reception line.

We even got to see some of our friends that night! Kyle and Gina!

Here is Danielle with her best friend, who caught the bouquet!

Heaston and his buddies! He has been friends with Kyson, Evan, and Wes forever!!

Cutting the cake! Aren't they cute?

This is when Heaston and Danielle were about to leave.

oh, and the boys got their car pretty good!

It was the perfect day, we finally had some good weather!! It was so wonderful to be able to attend the ceremony in the temple and I am so happy and grateful that all my siblings have made the choice to be sealed together forever! It is such a great and wonderful blessing that we are a family forever!

This weekend we also attended a funeral and a baby blessing in Eric's family. It is amazing to witness all of these life events. It strengthens my testimony of the gospel and the plan of salvation. To see a precious gift from God, our little niece Grace, being blessed, then to watch my brother take this important step for a new beginning, to start his own eternal family, and then to watch our sweet grandmother pass away and attend a beautiful funeral to celebrate her life here on earth. I feel very blessed.

Grandma

This is Eric's wonderful Grandma, Betty Lundell

On Wednesday, May 25, Grandma passed away. We were so glad, and so extremely lucky, that we were able to make the long drive from Logan in time to see Grandma and say our goodbyes.
For those of you who didn't know Grandma, I consider myself very grateful to have gotten to know Grandma so well. She is an amazing woman and great example of love, hospitality, and devotion.
The first time that I met Grandma, she gave me a hug and kiss.
Grandma LOVES to cook and is an amazing chef.
I remember when Grandma was so excited to get her new stove, I'm sure she wears those out!
Whenever we would visit, and it was time for us to leave, Grandma would say "no, no, no. Don't go do you want some ice cream?"
I felt loved at Grandma's house.
It never mattered if you were talking to Grandma, or if the family was just conversing together in her home. She just loved to have her family around her, that is what made her happy.
Grandma Lundell is loved by many, and will be missed so much.

If you got it...

This weekend was pretty exciting for us, we had our first visitors in our new home! Eric's brother Tim and his girlfriend Becky came to stay the night. Becky had a Triathlon to take part in here in Logan, so after that we got to spend the day together. First we went to get some Aggie Ice Cream! yum! (best ice cream ever) We headed over to first dam to enjoy the nice day and eat our ice cream. We also took a drive past the Blacksmith Fork River to see the flooding, it was intense. The river is so high and the campsites are completely flooded. After the drive we decided to check out Willow Park Zoo, we love this place! We have been to the zoo so many times. It is just a nice way to enjoy a wonderful day (best sno cones are outside the zoo p.s.)

For the first time ever I saw a peacock flash his tail feathers! It was so cool! He just stood in one spot and kept turning around for all to see, and every once and a while he would shake them. It was amazing and kind of funny! I am so glad I was there to see it! Unfortunately the girl peacock didn't seem to care much...

It was a fun weekend! Thanks for the good time Tim and Becky!

This Sweet Chef...

So I'm trying something...



HERE

This is for Steph...

Last week we moved into a new place, actually instead of our apartment we are going to be renting my dear dear friend Stephanie's beautiful townhouse! So far, we love it! It has such a more homey feel that our apartment and Jace and Stephanie really took care of us...I don't think we are ever going to want to leave!

This is a look at our living room. I can't believe I found these curtains at Wal-Mart! They match the little sea green flowers on my couch pillows perfectly!

Here is another view of our living room. It is nice to have room to set up my dining table again, maybe we will have a family dinner there sometime!

This is the kitchen. Aren't these black appliance beautiful! Like I said, we are well taken care of here!

Here is our bathroom. I changed up our colors, it is a little girly but I love it!

another bathroom view.

This is the bedroom, that door goes right into the bathroom and I'm not going to lie I really love that and I am not sure why...it is just so convenient.

more bedroom.

and this, my friends, is the best part...our office/sewing/guest room. Yes guest room. This means that you can come and visit us and stay in our little bed here! Kyle and Gina....it is calling your name again! (and I still can't believe you both fit!)

Oh wait, actually, THIS is the best part!! I get to use MY washer and dryer again! They have been sad and lonely in my brothers basement for too long now! After a few tears and shopping on ebay and my husbands handy work....we were able to get these babies to fit! It is a tight squeeze, but they do fit!! We just had to switch the venting from back to the side (did you know that you can do that?!? so fantastic!)

So we weren't really planning to move so soon, we really liked our apartment and ward, but as you can see we couldn't pass up this beautiful home! We hope we can take care of it for our friends for a very long time!! We love it Steph!

Sean Kingston

Who loves Sean Kingston? I love Sean Kingston!! When Eric read in the school newspaper that Sean Kingston would be coming to USU to give a small concert to celebrate the re-naming of one of the streets on campus (from 700 N to Aggie "Bull-evard") he came home saying "Your boyfriend is coming to Utah Sate!" We decided it would be fun to go to this concert, so we did. We walked up to campus, and it got pretty cold. I was also surprised to see so many little kids. I was also surprised that I didn't know like ANY songs! I guess the few I jam to via Pandora Radio doesn't make me an avid Sean Kingston fan, but we had a good time trying to sing and dance along! Now we are just happy to have all our stress behind us (is that possible) finals are over, the move is done so hopefully we can just party this summer!

Thoughts

Yesterday was a busy day and as the day was ending I thought of several things:

I woke up still tired trying to pick out something to wear to work (and sadly found a hole in one of my favorite shirts.)

Does Ryan have something to pick out to wear today...or is he still wearing the clothes on his back?

I complained about scurrying around doing my grocery shopping in the pouring down rain.

Can Ryan go grocery shopping or are the stores empty?

I told Eric he may not want to eat the meal I prepared for him...I didn't think it turned out all that great.

Does Ryan have a home cooked meal to eat today?

I am so happy that today I learned my Mother-in-law received a phone call, yes actual vocal conversation with Ryan. He and all the other missionaries in the Sendai mission have been transferred to Sapporo, Japan. Ryan also said that he was eating lunch in his apartment when the earthquake first hit, so hopefully he was able to get a few of his belongings (clothes so food!) Ryan is very sad to leave the Sendai area, he will be leaving loved members, new converts, and investigators so I hope that he can keep his spirits as high as they have been. He is an amazing example and I am sure he will love serving in Sapporo as well. I pray for the Japanese people, I know that if they are moving missionaries then the conditions must be very bad. I am also thankful for the updates the church has given and that they allow Ryan to contact us at this time. I think about him all day, just wondering what he is doing at this moment or where he is, or how he is, etc.

Ryan

Since early Friday morning (early as in 2 am) until late Friday night (about 12 pm) worry, fear, heartache, and horrible scenarios crossed my mind multiple times. I have been taught to have faith, and that when troubled times come to exercise my faith in the Lord, but whenever I am faced with a test of my faith I find myself failing. As may of you may know my little brother-in-law Ryan is currently serving in the Sendai Japan mission and the devastating earthquake and tsunami that occurred there on Friday is what has been testing my faith this weekend. After praying for Ryan and his safety, I did feel peaceful and there was part of me that actually knew that he was okay, but for some reason that wasn't enough for me. I needed to hear it from an actually human telling me that they had talked to Ryan and they knew he was okay. That peaceful feeling inside of me was the Lord telling me that Ryan was safe and that I had no need to fear He knew this was going to be very difficult for the families of our loved missionaries and so He gave us comfort and I overlooked it. I am so happy and joyous that Ryan is safe! I am aware of my Savior and his love for his servants, he takes care of them and protects them the best way that he can. I hope that I can learn from this and recognize the spirit and Lord telling me what I so desperately need to hear. I know that Ryan is actively helping the Japanese people, his heart is truly too big for his body and his is the strongest young man I know. He is smart, sensitive, faithful, and brave. This disaster will not stand in his way or discourage him. Ryan is so very optimistic and I look up to him so very much. I love him. I am so happy, my joy greatly exceeds all my pain I felt! Thanks for all the prayer and hope you gave to me and my family.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! There are so many people out there who really hate this holiday, but if you ask me...I love it! and it isn't just because I have somebody to share it with, it really is just a cute fun holiday and honestly I miss the days of making Valentines boxes in school and giving Valentines to ALL of my classmates! Why not share it with everyone right?
Anyways this year My friend and I tried our hands at this wreath that really wasn't too hard after all that yarn was finally wrapped around the wreath (we couldn't find a straw wreath anywhere and I really think that would have been LOTS easier!)

This is my only picture since my last post...I really need to be better at using my camera!
Hope you all have a fabulous Valentines Day!