mmmm JERKY

There is nothing like homemade jerky! NOTHING! Stop trying to think of things that are better! Well OK fine there may be SOME things that are better but right now there isn't. My ward had an opportunity to go on a TREK. Our whole ward pitched in and helped. It was incredible to continue to see how close our ward is. My friend Joe and I went to the store and bought the stuff for the jerky and made it all. We cleaned Maceys out of soy sauce.... We had I think around 60 lbs of meat

I smelled like Jerky the rest of the night... It is not my perfume of choice :p
We had WAY too much fun! THAT'S A LOT OF MEAT BABY!

 

NEW JOB!! Okkatots!

I haven't posted in a LONG time so I have much catching up to do which I will do in several posts so that it is more organized :)

So I have another job! I work for a company called Okkatots (auh-ka-tots) It is a company that my boss Jan created. She designed the products we sell. I work in the bookkeeping and accounting department (doesn't that sound so official! I am all grown up!) I LOVE this job. It is so much fun! We are mostly online right now the website is www.okkatots.com. Jan just launched the new site and it is awesome! A few months ago Okkatots had a booth at the Woman's Expo. It was so much fun to be there and see all the different booths and businesses.



This is one of the products that we sell. It is our Travel Baby Depot Bag. Since my picture isn't the best check it out here http://www.okkatots.com/traveldiaperbag.htm


This was our booth at the Expo. I LOVE the colors Jan has chosen! They are so warm and pleasant... and the colors of my room... :) I don't know if you have noticed yet but I LOVE this opportunity to work with this company!

French Twist & Nickel City :)

I attempted a french twist in my hair that morning and it failed me by about 1 that afternoon. What I did was twist my hair stick it against my head and put about 1 zillion bobby pins in it. My friend Rachael is a hair stylist I asked her to pin some loose pieces that I couldn't get to stay, she looked at it and then said "you need some serious help ha ha" so she taught me how to do a french twist the RIGHT way. I am forever grateful now it wont look like an attempt it will look like a real french twist! I had her take pictures of each step so that I could see what she was doing. These pictures are of what she did. What I did will never be seen again ha ha.


I met my new friend Kate in the bathrooms in the Institute and we hit it off immediately it was pretty cool. She is from California and was here with her Church group to travel around Utah. I loved the outfit she was wearing and so I asked her where she got it and she said she got her shirt from a thrift store in California and her scarf from Italy! And the rest is history I suppose :) We hung out for a little bit after that and then yesterday she had a few hours of free time and so she came down and Amanda and I took her to Nickel City and These are some pictures of our adventure.

TiCkEtS, tIcKeTs, TICKETS!!!!!!! Kate got about 400+ tickets, Amanda got about 350+ tickets I think she was really close to 400 if not more than 400, I got 566!!


I didn't know Amanda took the bottom picture (just so you know that face was not on purpose) ha ha I love it! Kate and I were trying to organize our tickets so it wasn't a jumbled mess. Amanda had taken hers and put them in the ticket counter, I was trying to get her attention to stop her so we could all get a picture of us and big piles of tickets. Sadly she didn't hear me. She was somewhat lucky though because it was kinda hard to take all of our tickets and try to fold them up. The picture of the tickets on the floor is a favorite because you only see about a 1/4 of the tickets, they were draped on machines so we could gather them up easier :)


My camera died about half way into our adventure so the rest of the pictures including the ones with Amanda are on Kate's phone. As soon as I get them I will post them because they are adorable!!

180th General Conference

I had the opportunity to go to the Saturday session of Conference this year! It was such an incredible experience. The Institute choir sang for this session so it was fairly easy to get tickets ;) It was amazing to be able to look at President Monson and all of the brethren as they were sustained, and it was great to see all the members that filled the Conference Center raise their right hand and sustain them. It was great to look at the giant monitors and see friends faces on the screen and see the outcome of all those many weeks of practice. It was great to be able to share this experience with Amanda as we sat there and filled the spirit in such an incredible way.




This may sound bias but I felt that the music was sensational. The power that came from each person was profound and when it is all blended together so well it is incredible. I loved singing 'We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet'. It was such a tender experience being able to look at the Prophet as I sang my gratitude for him. This was indeed a great experience that I will cherish forever :)




Temple Square is starting to blossom! This is my favorite time of the year! I LOVE all of the flowers that they have up there! Some flowers had already blossomed and as Amanda and I were walking back to my car we saw this little mini swimming pool/ fountain with out a fountain thing...any way it was blue and then there were blue flowers all around it in a very organized fashion and I was in awe :)



We had planned to go and see my cousin on the way home and as we were driving to her house we drove by a little towing place that made us a little confused....... you can tell me whats wrong with it....



I didn't know that there were 25 hours from 8am to 5 pm did you?? As you can very well see this day was a great one!

Gas+ Not Being Lazy= 400

I have been doing everything possible to save gas except not driving at all. I use cruise control, I park in the back of parking lots, walk everywhere in this bi-polar weather. I don't use my A/C unless I am sweating bullets, I don't use my heat unless I can see my breath in my car. I have been doing as much as I can think of to get the most out of a tank that I can. The other night Jazon was with me when I went to run some errands and my miles went to 400!! I figured out that I have a 14 gallon tank and so that is about 28.5 miles to the gallon! Yes, that's pretty dang good. Below is the video of the amazing moment! Jazon was a little worried that we wouldn't make it to 400 before we got to the gas station, right as we got to the gas station we hit 400....I think it was meant to be :)

True Colors :)

This year the Festival of Colors was amazing... as always. I went down with a bunch of friends and had a blast. This whole day was really good, so lets start at the beginning shall we? I think so..



Lisa, Jill, Jazon and I met up at the Institute parking lot to carpool down to Spanish Fork for the festival. I had us get a picture of us with our cars because we have all been with each other when we got our new cars this year. That was an adventure. All the cars are named, Jazons truck is Nigel, my car is Flo, and Lisa's car is Fabio. OK trivia time..what Disney movie did these names come from??....That is correct, NEMO!!! So any-who we all drove down there in my car after some other friends met up with us.

There were just a few things that the people in charge of the festival asked, one was not to throw any of the color before the ceremonial burning of the witch. People dont listen and so after Jazon and I had gotten some amazing Indian lunch (mmmmmmm curry!!) we were walking back to find the group and people started throwing color at us. That bugged.... but what do you do.

Look close and you will see a boy crowd surfing. He was separated from his mom so he was being sent back over to her. When he got over to her, she grabbed him and was kissing his head. I love seeing a mom re-unite with her child :)

This was after the color had been thrown and then settled. When the color was thrown, it was a huge cloud, you couldn't see anyone around you it was so think! If you took a breath through your mouth the color would coat your mouth and you would have to spit it out...it was nasty tasting. If you took a breath through your nose you would start coughing. SO after learning that a couple of times I just put my shirt over my nose and tried my best to breathe that way. Next year I am wearing a mask.

Some of us after our color was gone...or so I thought, Jazon ended up throwing yellow on me several times right in the mouth....The color was scented, colored, corn starch..... YUCK!!!



As many of the group as we could find. This was so much fun, I am defiantly want to go again next year!






Now don't you worry, my car has had every nook and cranny cleaned, that was what I did till it was dark after I got home and showered. My car has never been cleaner.

Random Update :)

There is no way that I can make what has been going on since the last post short enough for an update. It would be a book series! So I will post some pictures of the highlights of the past months. It will be much more enjoyable for all of us!


These are the most amazingly stylish glasses known to man! This is my good friend Rob and I seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D...this was my second time seeing it and Rob's 3rd or 4th time I think. This movie was so much fun! I LOVED it!! Notice the 2 random girls behind us. It was pretty funny :)


This picture is a All-time favorite! These are my two best friends that I have grown up with :) I love them so much. This picture is the 3 of us at a surprise party that Rob and My family put together for me for my 21st birthday! This was by far the best birthday I have ever had!! I had my closest friends there and got to spend time with each of them. This was also the day that I got in a car accident and totaled my car (it wasn't my birthday..it was December 19th a few days before my birthday).... what a day! It ended in the most amazing way, there is no way it could have been better.




These two pictures are of a random road *less than 24 hour* trip to WY to get my friend Jazons truck he was buying. The 3 of us (Lisa, Jazon and I) had soooo much fun! The road sign above was the LITTLE town we went to. Little may be too big of a word. In this town there was a Grocery, Appliance, and Souviner shop all in one and a Bar, Auto Shop and Daycare all in one. Pretty sure places like this do exist!! It was an awesome trip. I love those guys! We all drove up in my rental car that I had and then Lisa and I drove back in my car and Jazon in his new truck (Nigel). We stopped in Park City (I had never been) and had dinner. One of the funnest road trips ever!



I love sunset, sunrise, the sky at anytime of day. I love when the rays shine through the clouds. I saw the picture above when I looked in my rear view mirror and so I turned the car around and grabbed my camera and took a couple of pictures of the beautiful sight I was seeing! I saw this on my way to watch the little guy you see above. I have been so blessed to be able to watch little Nate. He is such a sweet, happy, fun little boy! I love it when I get to watch him! Dont you just love those cheeks!! SO kissable!!

These are just a few highlights the busy amazing life I am so very blessed to lead :) I will try to be better at keeping this thing updated!