I have lots and lots and lots to post...

..but one thing at a time! I just found this slide slow Ty sent me for Christmas when he was in Iraq. It is one of the sweetest gifts I have ever received.

Slacker Slacker bo Backer.....

...I swear I have a good excuse though! I had every intention of posting about 2 friends last night after I got my hair done. I just keep forgetting it takes soooooooo long to do my hair! Poor Julie spent 3 hours on my hair! She is fantastic! Anyways, that means I didn't get home until 11!!! So no post last night.

Today's should make up for it though. Today's friednd/s are some of the most important people to ever have entered my life. They changed me and taught me 1000 times more than I ever asked for. I'm talking about my Rexburg BYU-I friends.

This post will be mostly pictures but I can not stress enough how blessed I am to have been given the opportunity to cross paths with them. They are the friends that I will cherrish for the rest of my life.

I have an unbelievable number of stories about these people and the unforgettable times we have had. We would play pranks like building a snowman in front of someones door and and than hosing it down until it froze there, or putting a lemon jolly rancher in the shower had so they can't see the color but they get all sticky. We wrote all sorts of silly secrets under our kitchen table to be recorded for all time. We snuck out the windows after curfew (whoops!). We stayed up all night and laughed until our stomachs hurt. These just a few of the fantastic memories.

These two girls in the first pictures though, Jeanne and Rachel, helped me in unbelievable ways. They helped me through something really difficult that I wasn't willing to deal with. They stood by me and worried about me even though I was still struggling with it. They are true sisters. I love you guys!

Stay tuned....

...so yesterday was such a nightmare getting home because apparently when it snows in MN, people think that a giant dragon with jump out and eat their car if they move faster then 4 miles per hour.

So due to white, cold, wet circumstances, today will be a two friend day because of my lack of post last night.

Look mom! I have at least 5 friends!!!

Friend number 5 in our super duper friend finder outer is......(drum rollllllll) Jes Bennion!

Growing up, Jes and I knew of each other but we never really met. We ran in very similar circles but for whatever reason, never crossed paths. When Jes moved back to MN with Kurt we both eyed each other at church for a couple of weeks. We couldn't figure out how we knew each other. Finally we slowly began to test the waters and found that we were long lost friends who, by some strange change, never became friends!

We have been "tight" ever sense! We see each other often, shop together and even can share clothes because we both have big arses! Its okay, we know it:)

Oh yeah, and she makes cute kids too!

Who in the world could #4 be????

Today lets talk about someone who I have grown quite found of. It's Andrea Anderson! There is a reason that I specifically picked Andrea today. She taught the lesson in young women's today about 'avoiding crisis living'. She did a demonstration that I remember from when I was in seminary. Some of you may know it but its when you take a jar and fill it with rocks. You think its full but you than pour pebbles into the jar that fill in the empty spaces. You than proceed to do the same with sand and finally water demonstrating that you need to take our jar and decide which things in our lives are rocks, pebble, sand, and water.

Andrea has inspired me to lists these thing our for my life. As I think about it though, I've decided that at different points in my life, the rocks change. Sometimes things just aren't as important as they once were. As of this point in time, here are my rocks:

1. My Job. Its taking up most of my life right now but it is also giving me the opportunity to have a nice home, make yummy dinners, and spend some times doing things for no other reason than I want too.
2. My relationship with my Heavenly Father. It is so much easier to put this in the fore front when you are in need of his help and guidance. I am working on putting him first always.
3. Ty......I am an independant person who loves alone time but I know that it is my job and desire to take care of him. I love doing little things for him so that he knows his loved.
4. Taking care of myself. Unfortunantly, I have come to the point that I need to make choices about what things I have time for and who I should spend time with in the limited about of free time I have. That means that some projects and even some relationships may become more of a pebble.
5. Making time for those relationships that are of great value to me and I have an opportunity to serve.

Pebbles:

1. My photography and cooking. Its really important to me but it needs to come after all of my rocks are taken care of.
2. shaving my legs. Some may disagree but thats how I feel! :)
3. Cleaning every surface and creves in my home before Ty's parents get here. Important but not the most important. (Good thing I have Ty to pick up my slack.)

Sand AND Water

1. grocery shopping
2. getting a pedicure
3. selling stuff on ebay

This stuff sound so frivilous compared to my rocks but thats just how my life is right now!

I'm really thankful that Andrea took the time to prepare this lesson. It forced me to prioritize. Thats one of the reasons I love her, she takes so much time and care. (And the fact that she will do dumb stuff with me like go get Breaking Dawn at midnight on the night it is released!)

Friend #3

Friend #3 in our series is none other than JoDell.
JoDell was one of the first friends that I made after we moved into the Anoka ward. She really was so engaging and a great help while Ty was gone. When I think of JoDell, here are the main things that come to mind:
1. If you need to have something done (ie: your roof replaced), need an item (ie:ANYTHING) JoDell is your girl. She can find ANYTHING at a killer price!
2. JoDell makes herself available to you if you ever need her. A truer statement was never spoken. She has helped me out many times on a whim and I greatly appreciate it.
3. She has a seceret to baking cookies!! I hope you don't mind that I tell Jo! She bakes them until they are about 3/4 the way done and then pulls them out of the over to finish baking on the cookie sheet. Makes perfect chewy chocolate chip cookies every time!

Thanks for being an awesome friend Jo!!!!

Day 2......Linna Mae Blair!

Linna Mae Blair, formerly Austin, is one of the biggest blessings ever to happen in my life. Linna lived in the apartment next to mine during my very first semester at BYU-I. We instatntly clicked. We soon learned that we had all sorts of freaky similarities. Like we have the same exact birthday, the same car (see how proud we are???), and extremely similar pasts.


Linna became my very best friend. We were able to talk about anything and be totally honest too. We could tell each other about how stupid we were being and still end up loving each other more. I remember on VERY distinct time. Linna and I decided to head down to a concert in Salt Lake one weekend on a whim. This was perfect because we are both total music FREAKS. Well, we got there and decided not to go tot he concert but Linna had a thing for a boy who was down there for the weekend. So we looked them up and decided to hang out. They had a 3rd friend who came along who, for whatever reason, I decide I liked. To shorten the story up, the boy Linna liked got a little inappropriate and so she said she wanted to leave right than. Well it was midnight and not to mention that I was on the verge of have a NCMO (if you don't automatically know what that is, you a. didn't go to school in Idaho or Utah, or b. you don't want to know) so I wasn't ready to leave. Seeing as how it was Linna's car, we left. We got in a huge screaming match on the way out of there and Linna decided she needed to sleep so she went in to the back seat. Well, 3 hours later she woke up and I hadn't even made it out of SALT LAKE! I got completely lost and we were sitting under the highway in some weird bus/truck depot. We couldn't stop laughing and the fight was offically over!!

We had many many spontanious times. We were going to go to see a band of one of my friends in town and so we decided to get all prettied up. Well, this is what Linna came up with at first. It was one of my all time favorite pictures. I call it the trailor trash prom queen. I love that you can even see her appendix scar! (I told you some of this would be embaressing for some people!)


Well, we went to the show and Linna saw a cute boy and was feeling a little shy so I got to play wing man. I went to talk to him and see if he wanted to go get ice cream or something with us. He took a look a Linna and said that she was really cute and he was totally flattered but he was pretty sure he was jail bait for her. It turned out he was 15!!!!!!!!!! He totally didn't look like it but I couldn't stop laughing the rest of the night!!! So I have offically hit on a minor!

We really did become best friends. She even tweezed my eyebrows for me. For whatever reason, I just couldn't do it when I was in college so Linna took on the task for me!


Linna's middle finger on her left hand is cut off right before the first knuckle. During the first couple of years that I knew Linna, she HATED it. When she would go on dates, she would make sure that she was always on the guys left side in case he tried to hold her hand, he would noticed the finger. She even cried the night she told her now husband about it. Well, I loved her finger and nicknamed him stubby. Stubby is AWESOME! She has sense grown out of her dislike for him, but he is sooo much more for me!!!!!

Linna and I have even more crazy similarities! We both got married in the Logan temple, on the same weekend one year apart, to boys to high school football teams played each other. I swear she is my soul mate!!!

So what is the whole point of this post???? I can't express how special Linna is. I love her with all of my heart and want her to know that. She is my most very cherished friend!!! We should all be so lucky......

Day 1 of super fun friend finder outter....

Like I said earlier, I am going to post about one of my friends everyday until Christmas. Some things may be informational, some sappy, and some embaressing....

So here goes!

Kristin Villireal

First and foremost..... Kristin is not HISPANIC!!!! She is infatic about this!

Kristin is a fantastic friend to talk/vent/laugh/scream with.

She refuses to buy a new camera even though she has had the same one for 8 years and it takes 14 years to process in between taking pictures.

She thinks she can't make cookies, but really (don't tell her I said this) she just thinks about it too much. If she would stop opening the door every 3 minutes they would be fine :)

And lastly, she lets Benjy cheat at his all time favorite game. Some of you know which one I'm talking about and I'm sure Kristin is cursing me right now, but I know Benjy sure is glad she lets him get away with this one:)

Nagpapasalamat Huwebes (It really is words! Tagalog at its finest!)

I have decided to put my love of lists aside for a week…..
So here is my unconventional ThankfulThursday (sense when are my lists conventional???)

This week I have become alarmingly aware of the pure amount of friends that we have. I’m not talking numbers but just the amount of caring that people pass our way is astonishing to me. Yesterday alone, 3 couples who have either been in my life and moved away, or else have been reunited with lately contacted me. Unfortnantly, I have the best of intentions, but whenever we move or our friends more we mean to stay in touch but we have a REALLY tough time (lazy) doing it.

Not to mention all of the friends that we have right here near home. I’m honestly overwhelmed by the number of people that I could call if I ever needed ANYTHING, and that includes just need to vent a little….coughkristincoughcough. We are truly blessed with these amazing people in our lives. You guys bring me soooo much joy. We appreciate you and love you dearly (even if we aren’t always the best at showing it.)

So I have decided that I am going to embarrass some of you by posting each day until Christmas about one of you and why I am thankful for you. It may be short and sweet, or it may be embarrassing but know that I am doing it because I love you! Oh yeah, and it may even include pictures if I have them (laughs evilly) !!!! So stay tuned tonight for number 1!

A mutual friend....

This is Roux.... Roux spent a good part of his life sitting on a shelf in my Grandma Dorff's kitchen. He was the watcher of the cake baking, soup making note taking activing that happened around him. Roux hales from amsterdam where he spent the early days of his life.



Roux now rules over my kitchen. He not only watches over my recipes but also has become an excellent observor of mess making, as I am the champ of this task. Roux is a great companion and reminds me every once and a while that is it time to make my Grandmothers angel food cake because he misses her. Roux and I have that in common.

My grandma was crazy! You couldnt find a spunkier, more passionate, crazy tiny woman! EVER! This is the 80 something small lady who affectionatly swore like a sailor when she found out that my husband would be leaving for Iraq and then sobbed like a child out of love and saddness for me. She gave away pocession after pocession during the last 10 years of her life because, according to her, this was her 'last christmas'. It never was but she wouldn't hear of us not taking it because otherwise we might not get it when she did go GASP! The woman who laughed a little in the hospital the night that Ty and I got here from Idaho and she had been rushed in and my sister Molly's mind went to DNR meaning 'Department of Natural Resources' instead of 'Do Not Resesitate'. The same woman who told us stories about how she and her friends would take an eyeliner pencil and very carefully draw a perfect line up the back of each of their legs to make it look like they were wearing stockings when they went out dancing.

Yeah, I would say that it was appropriate for Roux to miss her.


Did you know that Elder Ferrell is going home this week????? We may or may not have had dinner with him at the Bennions last Sunday.

He decided to show us the 'cups lesson' one last time.

Michael here didn't feel like he should be left out of the excitment!

So Ferrell spent the whole time defending his stucture! Too bad Michael got ahold of an apostle or 2. They are now very flat members of a 3D tower.

Thankful Thursday....

I feel like I have spent the majority of my time figuring out the best way to get to the next day lately and thats fine. In difficult times, I realizae just how blessed I am.

1. Family... They drive me crazy sometimes but they are a part of who I am. I'm thankful for the support, the obligated niceness when I'm not so nice, the knowledge that they is always someone to turn too, and the chance to support other people who are so important to me.

2. My calling....Do you know we have some of the rockin'est girls ever!!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how much they impress me. I hope, hope, hope that maybe I can give them something too.

3. My terrible taste in books. With my embaressed love of chick lit, there is always something new to read!

4. Hair Binders...I may write a poem one day and dedicate it to this fantastic invention.

5. Pledge all purpose cleaner...it works wonders and smells like a dream.

6. Sonicare toothbrush!

7. Jumpper Cables..Ty and I have been carpooling everyday and so when we go to use my care on the weekend, its DEAD! I'm thankful we own some of those suckers.

8. The vast amount of knowledge on the internet. I can learn almsot anything!!! Ask me how to cut a star out of a piece of computer paper with only one cut!

9. A top sheet. I will need to explain this one. Sense Ty and I got married, I have been a ditcher of the top sheet. I would just throw it in a closet and scowl everytime I saw it. The reason being that I HATE making the bed and the top sheet just takes soooo much my effort and time...at least the way I was doing it. Ty taught me how to do military corners when we got our new sheet set last week and so I thought I would give it a chance. It is AMAZING!!! I sleep so much better!!!!

10. Drum roll please............. I am the most thankful that now it is winter Ty is in the office and I can send leftovers with him to lunch instead of having to pack a seperate lunch for him everyday!!!!!

I have nothing to say....

...sorry! We are taring the entire house apart cleaning EVERYTHING so really, there is little that is blog worthy. So here are some pictures!

Series.....

I totally loving the fact that I can take 3 shots per second on my new camera. It is proving to create some good entertainment!

First.... The YAWN/HOWL!



....And now the BURP! I know you think I am the luckiest girl around to have a guy like this! Sorry about the lighting, I didn't have time to change the setting before it happened.

ThankfulFriday...

...(thinks to herself, maybe they won't notice its friday and not thursday)


I don't know what happened but I feel like I have to schedule time to blog now!!!! When did I get so busy??? There is always time for ThankfulThurs....I mean Friday!

1. Swimming pools...I am insanely thankful for these right now.
2. My Nikon...still in love with her!
3. Community Ed..
4. A feeling a self worth...I'll blog more about this one later
5. Someone besides me to do the budget in my house
6. Clean garmets! The best feeling in the world!
7. An ability and a desire to read
8. buttered popcorn flavored jelly bellies!
9. A brilliant husband..who has awesome ideas! - I'll post more about his later today!
10. Those little rubber things you put on your finger so you can turn the page! They are a source of endless amusment for me at work!

A post from an Old Lady!!!

I don't really think that 26 is old but it is odd to be over a quarter of a century old. One advantage of being of progressing years, I am finally old enough to have a kick A camera! I got my Nikon D80!!!!! I love her a ridiculous amount!

The day before my birthday Ty set a little savager hunt up for me. It started with a note from "Nikki Nikon" and stated that she was an immigrant from Japan and had been captured by I.C.E and need my help to get here. The funny part is, when we woke up, Scout jumped up on the bed and I was playing with her collar and pulled it off of her (its funny to see how crazy she gets when you take it) and there was a clue taped to the inside. This was before the hunt even began so Ty quickly took it from my and sent Scout away. One of the clues was also inside of Blue's collar. That one was a bit more difficult because he thought we were playing and just ran away from me!! I spent the whole day playing with my new camera!

Now being home all day by myself, what do you think I took pictures of? Thats right, the pups! I did venture out just a tiny bit but not much. Too cold!
There was even another suprise for me!!!! When my grandparents died several years ago, I got all of there china. Nothing terrible impressive, but it was theres. Its been in boxes wrapped in newsprint in my parents attic. My father lovingly told me to come get the rest of my crap as they were cleaning out so it has been in our garage. Well, Ty did one of the most thoughtful things ever! He made me this oak chest to store all of it. Its seriously beautiful!!! He even went and got pictures from my mom of me as a little kid with each of my grandparents and in layed them to the inside of the lid under plastic. I totally don't remember this but I guess that we went for a walk with my grandpa when I was little and came across this dead branch and I INSISTED that we take it home and plant it as a tree! That is one of the pictures.
And......here are some pool balls???? Random, I know!

Thankful Thankful Thankful Thursday!

Have you noticed that my blog is devoid of all pictures??? It makes me sad:( Soon enough, they will return! Or I could just start pulling random pics out of my collection and you would just have no idea what they pertain too?

Lets get down to business! ThankfulThursday!

1. Pinnapple

2. Email delete buttons

3. Fan-freakin'-tasic friends!!!!

4. Holiday Bonus'! YES!

5. Having a husband who forced upon me the wonderful laundry! We got EVERYTHING done which is gigantic for us!

6. Kethup!!

7. My sonicare toothbrush, it makes me feel all special

8. Nail clippers. I HATE cutting my nails but I also HATE having them grow up. So as a result, I can't ever find a nail clipper and my nails are too long. But when I finally just do it, it is heavenly!

9. The gas station on University that is selling gas for $1.83

10. A weekend to sleep in!!!!!!!! Ty is letting me sleep in this weekend and he is gonig to do the paper route by himself. Isn't he great?

Test of will power.....again!

So when I was in high school, my dad bet me that I couldnt avoid drinking soda for 6 months. Well, pretty sure this is fairly obvious, but I am slightly stubborn. So not only did I not let a drop touch my lips for 6 months but 1 year later I was still liquid crack free! This coming from someone who used to walk up to the tom thumb ever summer day and buy a humugo coke.

I'm still not a big soda drinker but I find it creeping back into my life more and more. So, I have to decided to give the stuff up all together again!!!!

So why, do you ask, am I posting this on our blog??? Well, I am a stubborn creature and am 10 times more likely to do it if I make a public decloration. So here I am world, shouting it fromt he roof tops! "NO MORE SODA!"

sooooo overly dramatic, I know

Okay! Okay! Okay!!!!!!

I guess I have a reputation! 3 people asked me what happened to thankful thursday! The truth is, I worked overtime last night and got home at 8, then made dinner, finished the book I was reading, and just went to bed.

So with my sincere apology....here goes!

1. So this week we start with a weird one...Toilet paper! I love whoever invented the stuff. Think about it, it use a million uses! blow your nose, wipe your make up off, absorb a spill, decorate the trees in someones lawn, or even provided fun for a lonely dog!

2. Hair dryers.....I'm sure Ty doesn't remember that I use it on my feet in bed when I'm cold when he bought me my new one. He hates that!

3. Forgotten money..you'll know what I mean if you ever wake up, check the bank account and realize there are several hundred dollars you completely forgot about!

4. A democratic process.....I know, I know! It may not have turned out exactly the way I would have wanted but I believe in this process as well as the good intention of the elected officals. That doesn't mean I think we should agree with everything they do, but I honestly am thankful that they will follow what they believe to be correct. Now we just pray that they will have the smarts to listen.

5. My suprise when I got home last night...Ty ended up not working yesterday because of the weather. I thought he was home relaxing and enjoying his day off, but was I suprised when I got home! He had gone out with the missionaries to I came home to an empty, extremely clean house. I mean CLEAN! The scent of candles burning and everything!

6. Hair Binders

7. Current Gas prices!!! $1.96 baby! Better be thankful for it while its here!

8. I'm thankful for my "not enough sense to be ashamed" -ness! Sense you all know me, I'm sure you know what I mean.

9. Smith clan...can you believe a few are coming HERE for christmas???

10. Drumroll please............a husband who doesn't get mad at me because I rub my feet together while I'm falling asleep and have worn a hole in our sheets!!!! Its bad! I even ruined my parents couch this way when I was growing up!

Goose FACT!!!!!

So several weeks ago, Jenna DeLong gave a talk littered with "goose facts". Things like when a goose leaves the "v" at least one another goose goes with it. Or when the lead goose gets tired, it honks and moves to the back.

Well anyways, the fantastic new saying instantly entered both my and Ty's vocabulary. Not a day goes by that one of us does not utter the phrase "Goose FACT". On the weekend, you just about don't hear anything else. Unless its the occasional "HONK"! It cracks us both up every time!!!!

So in honor of our "Goose FACTS", here are some goose pictures!

Another gig!!

So KayLeigh asked my if I would take her senior pictures. We decided we had better get right on that because the state of the weather so not to be predicted. Well, of coarse, murphy's law kicked in and it was in the exact 2 and half weeks that I am without a camera (which is killing me by the way) so my wonderful mother was nice enough to lend me hers to use, which just happens to be the exact same model I just sold. So we are going to do another session when I have the SLR but here is session one! (well some of my favorites at least!)