Sisterly Love...

Well, even though I hardly got to see Troy this past weekend, I had one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. We kicked it off Friday night when my sisters were able to get a night away from their kids for Amy's birthday. The stars must have been aligned just perfectly because when we met up, this is what we looked like... ...a little embarrassing, but funny at the same time. We spent the evening doing some kid-free shopping at Old Navy, Famous Footwear, and of course, the mall; followed by a late dinner at Noodles & Company where we stayed until almost an hour after they closed. We didnt even realize it until the workers started leaving...Oops! Then we headed over to the Marriott so they could enjoy a good nights sleep, but we just couldnt pass up the oppurtunity to spend half the night talking and laughing. We finally went to sleep around 1:30 so we could get at least 6 hours of sleep before having to get up and get ready for a relaxing day at the spa...

Amy was the lucky one of the day, her husband went all out and got her a well deserved full day of pampering. I am so glad that we had the chance to spend the night together and I really hope that Ryan and Pete are willing to be "mom" again sometime soon so we can have another chance to touch base with our true selves and feel like home again.

"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. "

Happy Valentines Day

Ever since last Valentine's Day I have been telling Troy that he did so good getting me my puppy that he doesnt have to worry about even trying on Valentine's Day for the next few years. And it's funny because even though it was always kind of joke now that Valentine's Day is here all I am thinking about it how happy last years was and that is honestly enough to last for years to come. My little Sariah is definately my everyday Valentine...

San Francisco here we come!

Troy was just selected to go to a training for his job and guess where he gets to go...San Francisco! And guess who gets to go with him? That's right, ME! :) I am so EXCITED even though I will probably be spending most of the days by myself. I have been trying to get Troy to take me back to San Francisco, but he hasnt really been too interested. Now I have the chance to make him fall in love with it so we can keep going back again and again. Now I just need to find a friend that wants to come with me to keep me company all day. Either way, I know I will still have a blast!

Another Tag! *ABC*

My sister tagged me on this one-

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend(s): Troy, my sisters, Brooke, Bekah & Mary
C-Cake or Pie: Carrot Cake (Hey, I would get 2 points for that one if we were playing Scattergories!)
D- Day of Choice: Sunday
E- Essential Item: I have to agree with my sister, I have to take a shower everyday! If I dont, it just isn't pretty, I am not one of those natural beauties like the rest of you. I have terrible skin and oily hair
F- Favorite Color: Blue
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Mmm...I'm not crazy about either, but I guess worms
H- Hometown: Chickasha, Oklahoma
I- Indulgence(s): Fast food and buffets
J- January or July: Normally I would say July, but since I have become a skiier this year, I would have to say January. That will probably change once July gets here though. :)
K-Kids: do our dogs count? Missy, Ruger, & Sariah
L-Life is incomplete without: Love and Family
M- Marriage Date: December 1, 2006
N- Number of Siblings: 3
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges, I always feel car sick when I eat Apples thanks to my Dad
P- Phobias or Fears: Too many to list, but recently I have really been afraid of losing someone I love and natural disasters
Q- Quote(s): I am a total quote person, I collect them like crazy, my favorite that I heard recently is "My past is redeemed, my presence makes sense, my future is secure." -Henry B. Eyring Some of my other favorites that come to mind, "Pain is inevitable, misery is optional." and "When we let go of fear, only then can we move gracefully from what was, into the miracle of what can be."
R- Reason To Smile: I am going skiing tonight and just because my life is so good
S- Season: Spring or Fall
T- Tag Six: I love reading these so anyone who wants to participate, please do! :)
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I used to ride a motorcycle, no not a scooter, a real motorcycle. We recently sold it because motorcycles and babies don't really go together, right?
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Weren't animals put here for us to eat? I could live on only red meat. That's probably why I have an inner tube around my stomach.
W- Worst Habit: Surfing the internet too much while I am working and watching too much stupid TV
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: X-Rays, I have had 2 ultrasounds in my life and both of them delivered bad news
Y- Your Favorite Food: cheeseburgers, hot dogs, mashed potatoes, french fries, my mom's chicken noodle soup, breadsticks...holy cow, it's no wonder I'm gaining weight instead of losing it!
Z: Zodiac: Virgo

Glenn Beck's tribute to Gordon B. Hinckley

This post is for Troy, he loves to watch Glenn Beck. Be sure you pause the music on our playlist so you can hear. :)

Am I really starting to love the snow?

This is the first year of the 8 I have lived in Utah that I have actually enjoyed the winter. For the first time, when I see the snow instead of thinking, cold, wet, dangerous, annoying...I actually get HAPPY! Troy bought me skis last year right before we got married and this year I have really become addicted to it. We have honestly gone night skiing once a week since it started snowing. I absolutely love it! After a few minor set backs, we went skiing Friday night with our friends Ty & Holly. It was alot of fun. I had my first experience in like 2 feet of fresh powder and I pretty much rolled down the hill my first time down, but it was still so much fun b/c it was like rolling down a huge pillow. You can hear Holly making fun of me if you check out her blog. But I think her getting stuck on the lift and them having to stop it for her to get off was alot more fun to watch. Here are a few pics from our night...We spent Saturday lounging around and watching President Hinkley's funeral all day, but we had to make time to bring the puppies down to the park by our house. I know that most of you probably think it is weird to love our dogs like our children, but they are all we have to love for now. :) They just love playing in the snow and they are so much fun to watch especially after a fresh powdery snow. I wanted to show all my friends and family in Oklahoma all the snow that is piling up here so I thought I would snap a few pics of the dogs playing, too. I know, they aren't as cute as most of the posts of everyone's adorable kids, but here they are...
I am getting some big muscles from shoveling the driveway so much!! :)

Can't you just see the pure joy on Ruger's face in this picture. It is so funny to me...Oh and I also have to give a shout out to the New York Giants! Yay for the underdog! I love to see teams like the Patriots lose!

Tennis Anyone?

So, me and Troy have really had a tennis itch lately, but the problem is when we go together it isnt really much of a work out for either of us because he is so much better than I am. Well, recently on Troy's birthday we played doubles with my sister and dad and it was so much fun! Ever since then we have really wanted to go again, so if there are any couples out there that would like to play with us, we would absolutely love it! Any by couples, I dont necessarily mean husband/wife or girlfriend/boyfriend, just a girl and boy that would probably be evenly matched for us to have a fun, friendly game. Troy has played in leagues for the past few years and he is pretty good/intermediate level and I am pretty much a beginner, but am getting better. So if you are up for a friendly game, PLEASE let us know! Lagoon has an indoor tennis facility and they charge $24 for 90 minutes of court time, $12 a couple is a pretty cheap night out if you ask me! :)

I've been tagged...

Rules:
1. List 6 things about yourself
2. Tag 6 more people

1. "Two trailer park girls go round the outside,
round the outside, round the outside..."-I have been criticized and looked down on due to what some would consider my poor taste in music. I have a never ending love affair with Eminem. Yes, I admit I could probably sing along to every word of 95% of his songs, including his underground stuff. However, due to the explicit content of most of his songs, I have had to force myself not to listen to him over the past couple of years, but I admit there are days when I just have to get my Eminem fix! And yes, my "white trash" taste of music extends beyond Eminem to the world of Kid Rock, 50 Cent, G-Unit and many other rap/hip hop artists. Yes, U92 "Where Hip Hop Lives" is preset on my car radio stations. I grew up in small town Oklahoma, what do you expect?

2. LDS Mingles-Not only are me and my husband one of those internet couples, we were also a long distance relationship/internet couple. I know, it used to be embarrassing to admit because I always felt like people were always thinking to themselves, "Yeah right, this has disaster and failure written all over it." But now I am not afraid to admit, YES-Troy and I did meet on an LDS dating website and YES-he lived in Boise and I lived in Bountiful up until about a month before our wedding, but I also know without a doubt that we are supposed to be together and there isn't a man out there that I would rather be with. So anyone who wants to laugh at us, you can just go right ahead and do it! :)

3. My Fears-I seriously am afraid of everything! Just to name a few: bridges, drowning, spiders, sexual predators, natural disasters, taking a shower when I'm home alone, living in a house with a basement, the McDonalds on 500 S. 200 W. in Salt Lake, home intruders, Michael Myers grabbing my leg when I get out of bed. I honestly cannot watch scary movies, I have been permanently damaged from watching Halloween and other scary movies when I was a kid.

4. Reality TV-Even though the people on the shows make me crazy, I just can't stop watching! And the worst part is they are the dumbest reality shows out there: The Hills, Girls Next Door, Shot at Love, I Love New York, Snoop Dogg:Fatherhood, Bad Girls Club, What Not to Wear. I spend so much time watching these shows and just being in shock at how stupid the world is, but I guess that makes me stupid too for watching them, right? I am so embarrassed that I just admitted to watching those shows to all of you...please don't judge me! But in my defense, I think the rest of my TV selection is pretty "normal". My faves: King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld, Smallville, and do any of you remember Third Rock From the Sun? I always tell Troy that I want him to get fat so we can be like Doug and Carrie on King of Queens.

5. I used to be a total Tomboy-Seriously, I dont have any pictures of me in anything other than a sports jersey and a ponytail until I was in 10th or 11th grade. Most little girls grow up being obsessed with make up and having crushes on typical teeny bopper boys, not me, my room was covered with sports and super hero memorabilia. I painted my room Jazz colors and it was filled with pictures of John Stockton & company, Steve Young, John Elway, Batman, Superman, and my major Hollywood crush...Keanu Reeves. This shot was seriously one of the best moments of my life...
Luckily since I played sports in High School it wasnt too abnormal for me to wear track pants and hoodies almost everyday. I dont think I wore my hair down or wore makeup until 10th grade.

6. What is my name? I have honestly never been called Arin by anyone in my immediate family. I am the baby of the family and when I was born my sister, Amy, couldnt say Arin so she called me Dawn Dawn (Dawn is my middle name). I was Dawn Dawn to all of my siblings until they started calling me Mel when I was about 6 or 7. Before you ask, Mel is short for Melvin (luckily my mom put her foot down on letting them call me Melvin) Yes, it's unfortunate to have a nickname short for Melvin and no, I will not share the story of how it started. Maybe that will be another story down the road. :) But to this day, my siblings call me Mel and my nieces and nephews all call me Dawn Dawn. Troy thinks it is really weird, but to me it is just normal.

Well, I hope I didnt embarrass myself too much on this one! I am going to tag Amy, Jenni, Brooke, Holly, Alicia, Katie, and Whitney. Yes, I know that is 7, but do you think all of them will actually do it?? :)

This quiz just made my day...

For those of you that don't know, I absolutely LOVE Superman so when I took this quiz I was so happy to see the results!!

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 100% Green Lantern 70% Supergirl 65% Hulk 65% Robin 62% Batman 55% Wonder Woman 55% The Flash 55% Spider-Man 30% Iron Man 25% Catwoman 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Our Photo Albums

Thanks to the fabulous creaters of Google, I finally found a website that I could dump all of my pictures into without going over their stupid storage quota and have my own personal web address, so if anyone wants to look at our endless supply of boring pictures, you can visit http://picasaweb.google.com/arinjeffs. I have uploaded alot, but will add more of a variety later on. I hope you enjoy viewing our history! :)

I am officially a skier!

So, me and Troy went skiing Friday night and I got over the hump and officially crossed the line from beginner to I CAN DO IT!! Some kind of flip just switched and all of the sudden I could just do it!! I love love love love love it and I just want to go every day now. I didnt really see what skiing was all about, but I have officially caught the fever! I can only dream of being as good as Troy one day though. Here are a couple of pics from the night...

Happy Birthday Troy

So, we spent this past weekend celebrating Troy's 29th birthday. (I know, he is old) It was a really fun weekend. Friday night we went skiing. It was fun learning how to ski and watching Troy show off how good he is. Troy wanted to have a relaxing birthday so on Saturday we slept in and then went to a late breakfast at Sill's Cafe in Layton. Then we spent the afternoon lazing around and watching movies. I surprised him with a court time at Lagoon tennis where my dad and sister met us to play doubles. We had so much fun! We really need to do that more often. We finished up the night with a movie, August Rush. I think Troy really enjoyed a relaxing day off for his birthday. As a tribute to his 29 years, I thought I would make a list of 29 reasons why I love being married to my Troy (in no particular order, of course):1. He is my best friend. I can't think of anyone else that I would want to spend everyday with.

2. I admire his courage to change his life to be a better man.

3. He always builds me up to other people.

4. He is loyal.

5. He is a wholesome person who only wants to do good.

6. He likes to cuddle with me

7. He lets me fall asleep on his chest every night

8. He tells me he loves me all the time

9. He plays all my stupid games even though I know they annoy him

10. He gives the best, most thoughtful presents

11. He surprised me with the sweetest puppy in the world for Valentine's Day even though he didnt want another dog.

12. He holds my hand while we are driving in the car

13. He puts his arm around me while we are sitting in church

14. He always kisses me goodbye even when he is just going outside

15. He always touches me even when we are laying on 2 different parts of the couch

16. He shares his interests with me so I can enjoy them too (tennis, skiing, camping)

17. He is an awesome uncle

18. He loves his family more than anything in the world

19. He has a true and genuine testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel
20. He always makes me laugh

21. He has really nice legs

22. He tells me that I look pretty

23. He tries to make me feel better when he knows I am self conscience about something

24. He always drives when we are going somewhere together
25. He loves me even though he has seen sides of me that no one else has

26. He is down to earth and doesn't care about having more than everyone else

27. He calls me when he is on his way home everyday

28. He likes spending time with my family

29. He is going to be the best dad in the world to our kids

Thank you Troy for making it so easy to love you...

Christmas has come and gone...

Well, Christmas came and now it's gone. Sorry, we dont have more exciting pictures. Overall, our Christmas turned out pretty good. We spent time with our families and finally got to give all those presents that we have been dying to give. Now we have a whole year before we get to do it all over again. :)

New Polls

So me and Troy were talking about how lame we are when it comes to our TV watching. All we ever want to watch are King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, and the Discovery Channel. Does this mean that we are boring and behind the times when it comes to the latest and greatest TV shows? Let's let you all decide...
Also, since it is the Christmas season, let's decide what we like most about Christmas, other than the true meaning, of course! :)

Pre-Christmas weekend

We had a really weekend with Scott and Lori and the girls. They came down to celebrate Christmas with us a week early since we will be staying in Salt Lake to spend Christmas with my family this year. It was such a great weekend, but it always seems to go too fast. Luckily they got here pretty early Friday night. We exchanged Christmas gifts and we definately got the better end of that deal. Scott and Lori always give the BEST gifts! This year they got us...So we spent the rest of the night eating ourselves sick and playing Guitar Hero III. Saturday the girls and Matt went to the CRAZY BUSY mall and the boys...well...they did whatever it is that they do. The highlight of that afternoon was definately my 4 PAIRS OF SHOES FOR ONLY $19 at Forever Young...Later that night we met my sisters' families for dinner at Sizzler and then met Troy's brothers at Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It is always a highlight to spend the weekend with Scott's family since they are so much fun and we hardly get to see them. We always have tons of laughs and I am growing to like all of them more and more everytime I see them. Although I'm convinced that Marissa is possessed by the devil after seeing the fiery red eyes she has in every picture we took.

I just love my baby, Sariah

I am just minding my business working this morning and I hear noises from the living room that sounds like dogs playing. They arent supposed to play in the house so I walk in there to tell them NO and this is what I see....

I was wrapping Christmas presents last night and had left the stuff out in the living room. Apparently Sariah wanted to give wrapping a try. I couldnt be mad at her b/c she is just so darn cute! I really don't think there is a sweeter dog in the entire world.

Spending the weekend with Aunt Dawn Dawn and Uncle Troy

We had such a fun weekend, we got to spend alot of time with our nieces and nephews. We had a sleepover at our house on Friday night. Saturday we went sledding, decorated Christmas ornaments, and then Tutu and Aunt Helen came over and delivered Christmas presents to all of the kids. We really had a fun time with everyone and it was especially nice to spend quality time with my brother's girls, Coral and Rachel. We don't get to see them as much as the other kids in the family and it was so fun to get to interact with them and see their sweet personality. It was a long day Saturday full of the challenges of taking care of 4 kids when I am used to 0, but it was definately worth it. I have the best nieces and nephews in the entire world!

While we are on the subject...

...of solving mine and Troy's disagreements, I think you guys could definately help with this one so I have added another poll. Don't let me down...

What do you think?

I heard the name Parker a few days ago and I just really like it! Well, I like enough that I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it. I happened to have written it on my notepad at work so I have been seeing it quite often over the past couple days and I just thought I would poll all of you to see what everyone else thinks. So, go ahead and vote! I think these polls are fun and they could be a fun way to settle some of mine and Troy's disagreements about stupid stuff from time to time, so maybe I will make a regular thing of it...who knows? Happy polling...

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT PREGNANT.

Happy Anniversary

We had the best anniversary weekend! It started Friday night when I gave Troy his gift and he told me what we would be doing the next day. I gave Troy a DVD photo montage of our entire lives up until now. Thanks to my bro in law, Ryan and his MAC it looks like a professional video set to music and everything. I really appreciate all the hard work he put into it! And Troy surprised me with a day of skiing, a 60 minute massage, and a night at the Red Moose Lodge in Eden, UT. It was so much fun! I can finally say that I am a skiier now and I can't wait until the next time we are able to go again. My massage was absolutely wonderful! Troy thought it would fulfill my desire to have one, but now all it has done is make me want to get them ALL THE TIME!! The Lodge was really cool and it was so relaxing to just sit in the hot tub and take it easy for a night. We were both so sad for the day to end. I'm so lucky to have a husband who puts so much effort into planning fun things like that, I so excited for all of the anniversaries that we have ahead of us.