In all living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not endured

Perhaps I should recap life as of late. We've done a few things, sorta!

We had a lovely Valentines day. We decided to not do the whole gift thing. (Though Aust got me a MUCH needed car charger and I got him a replacement shirt for the one I ruined bleaching the ole' hair!) Personally I think its a lame holiday. I don't think one specific day should be set out to say I love you and truly show it. That needs to be happening day in and day out, BUT its a good excuse to go out! It was a good reason to skip school, so that I did and off to Texas roadhouse we went to wait in a 2 1/2 hour line! I cant complain, we probably looked like an inept couple as we were playing words with friends, against each other on our phones! But mostly it was good to just chillax and have time with babe. I never seem to get enough of that! After dinner we headed to my parents so Aust could apply for some jobs. It was a good low key day!

Handsome in his new shirt!

Next up our babysitting adventure. Can I just start by telling you how much deep respect and admiration I have for my dear sister day in and day out as I got a tiny sample of what her life is! Okay that makes it sound terrible which it wasn't, I'll admit though, I think we were in over our heads at times!

For Christmas Mindy gave Mike a trip to Cali kid free. She had asked me months ago if we would be willing to watch the kids for them so they could go. This was going to be a 6 day trip. We picked the kids up Thursday and headed to their house for dinner and bedtime. It was pretty successful until bedtime, poor Luken just wanted to cry, all night long. Luckily we both had Friday off! ( Not like we got to sleep in or even catch up on sleep!) After breakfast and bath time we were off to Arctic Circle for some lunch and play place! I thought I'd be the fun aunt and do all sorts of fun things, needless to say we got burnt out pretty quick. We came to the conclusion that Luke was sick cuz the poor boy rarely stopped whimpering/crying! Mom took the kids so we could head to the range and have a planned night out with friends. Luckily mom and dad watched the kids so we got some sleep! Saturday we were back on duty. I wont bore you with the daily schedule, but all in all we had a fun/tiring time! Katelyn says the funnies things and she is seriously so witty, Aust was so cute with her! Josh is equally as funny and they are so good to play together~ We came to the conclusion life was easier without all 3 so luckily mom took Luke!It was certainly an experience but we did have lots of fun!

The kids were such troopers as we played real life dress up everyday! I cut Katelyns hair and so we had lots of fun practicing.

I sent mindy a text that night with the pic on the left saying rub a dub dub... 10 secs later another pic saying... Not so fun anymore!

Barbie nap time, and a lovely walk.

In other news, we are members of the Wahasatch Gun Range. Its become our Friday tradition and its been so fun.. This is an outdated pic. Aust had this gun for I think 3 days and then he sold it for another, but lets be real. If I tried to keep track of his buying and selling, I think I'd drive myself to the nut house!

[The family who plays together, stays together]

Family Ski Day was a major success.

I was nervous about this outing, due to the fact more than half the family had never been before. I'm sure glad we found a way to make our schedules all work and make a great day out of it!

[[ Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself! ]]

Well I don't think its any surprise that I am going to tell you that nothing has changed. Life is just on repeat. I'm okay with that.

I'm okay with waking up at 7:35 just in time to kiss babe goodbye.

I'm okay with always being at work 15 min early yet still scrambling 5 min. into class time collecting my lesson plans of the day because I chatted with co-workers instead of preparing. I'm okay with work, the whole 6.5 hours of it, I enjoy it. My favorite part of the day is at 3:30 everyday, not because work is over. No, its because at 3:30 I call handsome. I'm okay that our conversation is the same every single day!

J "HEY Love!! hows work going??"

A "Its still going just washing dirty cars?"

J "Is it busy, has it been busy all day? Have you gone anywhere awesome?"

A "It's average"

J "Well I hope the last little bit flies by! I Love you!

A "Love you too!"

Yup that's it, but that's all I need. (the real conversation and catching up happens at dinner) Than it's off to school. To say I am okay with this would be a stretch, BUT its life, and its been that way for 2 years so I guess I've learned to deal.

I'm okay with coming home, scrabbling to find something from our bare kitchen to eat. I love that Aust waits for me to eat with him, even though its well past regular people dinner time.

I'm okay with spending the next hour on the couch; together... on our phones.

I'm okay with falling asleep nightly by 9:30 on the couch while listening to Aust laugh at the office. Unless of course the Jazz are playing, then its falling asleep to wherever we may be watching it.

I love my life. I love that sweet, funny, charming boy I get to call mine. I love that we are clearly not in our ideal grown up life, but that we are happy with this stage. I'm surely one lucky gal. :)

Updates. At last!

The genius I am, accidentally locked my keys in my car this morning. Therefore leaving me stranded, and no way of going to school as my hair bag was in my car, as well as school clothes. Luckily my friend Alison took me to my moms house! ( I can get in without a key there!)

Needless to say now I have some unexpected down time so I decided to catch ya'll up!

In our family newsletter I told my aunt she could just cut and copy my submission from the earlier month for the next one. It really does feel like our life is on repeat, its just the same old thing!

We loved our holidays (Halloween through new years)

We started a new tradition over Halloween, Amazing race game. My sister in law and brother decided to put it together for us so Austin and I could play as well, it was a blast, it was just that, the Amazing Race! We went all over Layton doing and finding crazy things, Austin and I even ended up eating 2 LIVE crickets each.. YUCK! As well as making a human pyramid at Walmart with complete strangers!

Thanksgiving brought a much needed break for me. I felt a little out of wack with my students and it was just time to be done for a few days! It was lovely. Aust and I were able to go to the zoo! Sidenote; I seriously love the zoo, its one of my favorite places! And for Thanksgiving we were with Austs family for the feasting and with mine for the after partying. It really is so nice to have our families so close by us and each other!

December brought lots of parties and even more family time. I had 2 weeks off, sadly Aust worked every day of it! We still tried to make up for lost time when he got home and tried to do fun things. Rob was in town so it called for lots of friend hang outs! My friends and I decided to do a progressive dinner night! My 2 friends all live in the same block as us, its really fun being so close! I still dont see them enough, so it was lots of fun! We had both family parties a night a part! I seriously love the holidays and all the family time!

We were super spoiled as usual when Christmas came around. We spent Christmas eve/Christmas morning with my family and the rest of the day with Austin's. We carried on the tradition of ALL sleeping in the same room... I forget just how big we've gotten and adding people in the mix made for a very crowded loong night! I think we will have to adjust the tradition from now on! It was fun the less though! I got all sorts of salon stuff. It was absolutely great! I decided the theme would be Paris and so I got so many fun creative things, as well as functonal! I got a salon chair, and rolling cart, giant mirror, etc. Aust got some fun shooting things including a new gun he really wanted. In case you were all wondering... yes its already sold.. the kid cant keep anything! :)

For New Years Eve we were pretty low key, Aust worked till 8 and then later we had our friends come over, we snacked, played games and had fancy martini's! It was a great way to bring in the New Year. We are excited for it as we hope new changes with jobs and schooling, etc.

New Years day marked the 3rd anniversary of our first date. That sounds so lame and most people would probably not think much of it but I consider it the best New Year I've ever had. It was such a breath of fresh air from the last year, Austin taught me many things, I learned just how lucky I am to have him, and the year/years since have been blissful! I'm definitely grateful I got him number and he was gutsy enough to ask me out the very next day!

(Im embarrassed to upload this embarrassing pics but needless to say I'm glad Austin liked me, brace face, short haired, and four eyes!) Glad I've done some growing up since than! haha

Maybe someday I will update the last 4 months...

Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions and will you make more for 2011?

I did indeed!

What countries did you visit this year?

None, just the lovely one we live in :)

What day will be etched in your memory?

The sad day in August. We were at the fair, stoked to see the hypnotist!
Dad called, "just so you're aware, you know Luke fell earlier...... well.. they rushed him to the hospital... Ooh uh I gotta go, call ya back with better details." I think that was the longest 10 min waiting to call him back! Needless to say the was some heart wrenching news, one life changing day, luckily for the better.

What was your biggest struggle this year?

School.

What was your biggest achievement this year?

Uh... buying a new car?

What was the best thing you bought this year?

Oh ^^^ my car!

Where did most of your money go?

Mortgage. Nose surgery.
What did you get really excited about this year?

A new job.

What songs will remind you of 2011?

Party Rock Anthem
A little bit stronger

Compared to last year, are you: much happier, much nicer, or richer?

I would say yes happier, I'd hope nicer haha and as for richer.. ya haha still working on that one!

What do you wish you had done more of?

Temple trips. Just relaxing at home with husband. More school.

What do you wish you had done less of?

leaving school early.

Did you fall in love this year?
I fall more in love everyday with that sweet boy.

What was your favorite television program of 2011?
Bachlorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor.

What was the best movie you saw this year?

Warrior.

What did you do for your birthday and how old did you turn?

Turned 22, babe turned 25, a day later. We went to Boondocks and got unlimited passes for FREE!

What would have made your year more satisfying?

More shoes? A personal maid and Chef?

What kept you sane this year?

It wasn't a struggle to "keep going" I'm blessed for the life I have but if it were something it would be Faith/my testimony. Things wont always be perfect, they aren't supposed to be but there is a purpose for everything, easy or hard.

What celebrity did you fancy most this year?

Well we didn't fancy him, but we fell in love with his name for a child someday, or perhaps my dog that will come first haha; Bentley from the Bachlorette.

Who did you miss this year?
Lara Lou.

Who were the best new people you met this year?
My new co-workers! I seriously am so blessed to work with the best people. Despite bad days, they always are there to cheer me up! We get along great and its been fun to be able to have friends from work to hang out with outside of work!

What is a valuable lesson you learned this year?
Cherish every single moment. We all saw just how fragile life could be. I've been a changed person because of that, make sure to show the people around me just how much I love them, and to really find the good in everything and everyone.

Goodbye 2011

Highlights of our year:

(don't mind the random HUGE pics!)

January: Snowboard trips, new gym memberships, freezing to death, and the usual.

February: V-day, a new car, and sadly I cant think of much more...

March: Baby Luken arrived, sis gets engaged, I went to Vegas for work, bought a sweet car, and water line broke causing a minor flood

April: Anniversary month, boat owners, conference, and meeting Matty boy

May: Trip with the gals to St. George, birthday, birthday, and more birthdays,

June: Mr. Kanyin born, serious bachlorette addiction, and some boating!

July: Favorite holiday, camp-outs, Wakeboard events, lots and lots of motorcycle rides due to the very late summer we received.

August: Rob left Aust, sister gets married, trip to San Fran, trip to St. George, Grandpa Dale passed away, tragedy strikes at Ikea, and I got a new job!

September: Fair, Lots of BYU game days, and joined Pinterest (haha such a life changer ;) )

October: Amazing race game, Halloween, pumpkin patch, and family pics

November: Nothing. Seriously. Work and school.

December: lots of Family fun and Holiday eating!

** a day without laughter, is a day wasted **

Me: c'mon, please go pop popcorn
Handsome: but... But... Ugh!
Me: PLEeeeeeSE
Handsome: But.. I just don't know how to burn it like you do!

:) He thinks he's funny!
... I guess I do too!