UPDATE...

Stephen and I found out we will be expecting 4 new nieces/nephews this spring!! My sister, Ainslee, will be having baby number three!! Finally! And whats even sweeter is that she is due on kylee's birthday (her oldest) which is April 20th. We are very excited to welcome the 4th grand baby on my side. Then Stephens brothers wife is expecting T R I P L E T S!!! three babies. Yikes! What makes it a double yikes is that they already have TWO 2 year old girls! HAHA five children under the age of 3. that will be so fun and busy and crazy for them! We cant wait, they are due may 2nd. We are especially thankful to them for taking all the pressure off of us to have children soon! And that will make 10 grand babies for Stephens side.

In other news, we are still hunting for the perfect house. So many deals, so many houses... how to choose? For now we are content in our basement apartment saving saving SAVING for that down payment on our dream home.

Also, we had the privilege of speaking in sacrament meeting yesterday on the topic of patience. It was a success! Stephen always speaks so sweetly. If only I didn't have a cold making my voice sound all funny.

And Finally, I have been having severe stomach pains since like april/may time and we finally figured out it is an allergy to wheat and dairy. So basically, I cant eat anything but fruit, veggies, rice, oats and nuts. super! At least I'll weigh like 90 pounds soon. We are just glad we figured it out and its nothing serious. Wish me luck!

We are looking forward to enjoying a beautiful fall this year, especially HALLOWEEN! Its coming up! Will our costumes be cooler than last year? I dont know, you be the judges. SOO EXCITED! Happy fall everyone! GOOOO BOISE STATE!!

3rd Honeymoon!

We joke that every big trip we take is just like another honeymoon. They have all been so wonderful. This time, we headed to the 3rd most romantic city in the United States. San Francisco! We had THE BEST time celebrating our 1 year anniversary. We stayed in a beautiful hotel and spent the entire time walking and walking and WALKING some more around the entire city. We saw amazing things, and loved every minute of it.

view from our hotel room, we stayed right on the bay! It was beautiful.

Down on Pier 39, with the city in the background.

Stephen found his peeps in the Lefty's store. They had the coolest pen that was designed so they wouldn't smear the pen as they wrote! It was pretty cool. And $25 so sorry Stephen, learn to deal.

Ahh, the Wharf. The best food and entertainment anyone could ask for.

Couldnt go to the wharf without a good crab feast! HA! He is so cute.

Nor could we come home without a picture with the infamous bridge. It was breathtaking. We crossed the bridge and took a hike up to this hill and were literally SO CLOSE to it. Seriously gorgeous.


This place was COLD. It didn't get above 67 the entire time we were there, and the breeze down by the bay didnt help much. It would start out in the morning cloudy and cold, then around noon it was like a cartoon as we watched the cloud cover burn off and turn into a beautiful sunny day! then around 6 the clouds would roll in again and it was time to be inside! We learned after a couple days to live like locals and carry our sweatshirts around.

Our sweet rental car we used to cross the bridges into Oakland! We looked pretty hilarious getting in and out of that thing.
Next was the Oakland Temple!

This was my only request for the trip. I LOVE this temple. It sits on a hill in Oakland and the grounds overlook the entire bay. From the temple terrace, you can see both the Bay and Golden Gate bridges. AMAZING view. If I were to do it all over again, I would get married here. It is so gorgeous. You can see from the picture, There is a huge fountain behind me and the water runs from this fountain down the stream to another fountain at the bottom of the hill. With two bridges that go over the stream! Its amazing. There are even speakers around playing church music as you walk through the courtyard. So gorgeous. This was the best part of the trip. We were able to do a session here also, what a beautiful experience. You can see its obvious outward beauty, just imagine the beauty inside!

What a way to end the trip. We had so much fun and were so happy to spend the week with each other, Summer was crazy and we barely saw each other but we made it through and now our reward is a lazy winter FULL of time together! I cant wait. It was a wonderful 1 year anniversary.
I love you baby.

Anniversary...

Fall. It can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For Stephen, it means BOISE STATE FOOOOOTTTBBAALLLLL! Is there any other kind of football?:) For a great deal of youngsters it means [uhhg] back to school. For others maybe it means oh crap winter is coming. For me, its LOVE. Fall is my verrrrry favorite time of year. What is not to love? The weather is perfect, my work starts slowing down and becoming not quite so hectic, the leaves are changing the breeze is blowing the sun is shining and it is just UH so perfect. Fall also reminds me of falling in love with my dear sweet husband. On September 28th, 2008 was the reflections of Christ fireside in the Jordan ball room at BSU. After, Stephen walked me to my car and I can distinctly remember standing on the 3rd floor of that parking garage waiting for the cute guy to make his move. Little did I know then, that he would not only make his move… but completely consume my entire heart and fill my life with more joy than I could have ever thought possible. We just celebrated our 1 year anniversary on September 5th and couldn’t me more happy or more in love. Stephen bought me these incredibly beautiful flowers!!





I’m so grateful to have such an amazing man. And I’m so grateful for the season of fall, because it will come every year reminding me of falling in love.

House Hunting...

First rule when looking for a house: DON'T get attached till the papers are signed.

We've broken the rule. We have been looking for maybe a minute and a half and found this perfect house in Tuscany subdivision off Eagle just past Victory. Yesterday afternoon.....we did a drive by. The house was abandoned months ago so we decided to walk around and peek thru every window possible. Although we didnt get a good view of the upstairs due to stephens cheerleading skills being rusty, the down stairs was just perfect.

Why does this process take so loooong??

We will be patient. And, although its sad to say it, we will keep looking.

...keep you posted!!

April 3rd

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!! My 21st birthday, the BEST everr birthday!! The celebration began friday night when Mom and Dad took us to dinner at my fav, the cheesecake factory! YUMM~ thanks again guys. When my cheesecake arrived they had written in chocolate syrup on the edge of the plate, "happy birthday to you!" It was adorable. The next morning I woke up to a thousand happy birthday kisses all over my face :) Stephen is the best at birthdays, he's always so sweet and thoughtful. We had an awesome birthday breakfast then both went off to work hard all day long. When I got to the salon there was a huge embarrassing display of balloons and a beautiful yellow daisy flower plant. I love my Orianne and all my asians. It was really busy but the day went really slow, which was good because it was my birthday! I got a million Happy Birthday's from friends and family to clients and co-workers and felt really loved and special. That night Stephen went to priesthood session and we met at his parents house for the traditional Chinese banquet. It was so much fun, who doesn't love panda express? After that Stephen had many tricks up his sleeve still to come! He drove me to the Anniversary Inn and we stayed in Sleeping Beauties Castle. This room was incredible!! It was huge! We felt like we were in an apartment! Down stairs, right when you walk in you have this huge rock jetted bath tub with the shower coming down like a waterfall then you move on to the common area, bathroom and vanity then the kitchen table in the bottom part of the tower. Then UPstairs we had a wrap around balcony overlooking the downstairs and our ROUND bed nestled in the top part of the tower. It was amazing, the attention to detail that was in every part of this huge room! The next morning it was pretty cool to wake up in a princess tower! Then we headed to his parents again for breakfast and conference. Then home to get ready for the Easter celebration and watch more conference and OPEN PRESENTS! Stephen amazed me with his thoughtfulness this year and so did my mom! Last month a lesson was given in relief society on Adam and Eve and she suggested everybody read the book entitled, "Eve and the choice made in Eden" so I wrote it down with the intention to buy it because its always been a subject that really interested me. Well my sweet husband found the paper and got it for me for my birthday :) I'm really excited to read it. He also got me a huge gorgeous framed picture of the Boise Temple, where we were married, and another duel shower head because ours broke. And we loved that shower head. A few months ago I asked my mom about a game I used to play on the computer when I was little...I really wanted to play it. She said they didnt have it anymore and that was that. Well she went online and found Hoyle board games and gave it to me for my birthday! Along with my fav scentsy smells, an hour and a half couples massage for myself and my husband, smelly good lotion and another book I wanted entitled, "1,000 places to see before you die" this book is like 3 inches thick!! Cant wait to pick our next vacation. Anyway, then we headed back to Stephens parents house with my parents to have Easter dinner and the egg hunt! It was so fun to have tons of family together and to have my parents be a part of it. I loved it! It was the best birthday weekend. Now time to rest and get started on my new books!! Till Stephens birthday...the 26th! Coming up!

I love you baby.

MARCH

What a month. We have been pretty busy! Having way too much fun. March first we returned to dreary Idaho after a beautiful Caribbean Cruise with Stephens family. We couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present. We had the privilege to travel in style on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the seas, the second largest cruise ship in the world!! It was incredible. We ported at Costa Maya, Mexico

Belize city, Belize (forgot the camera that day) and Cozumel, Mexico

As well as the infamous island of banks! The Grand Caymans. There are over 300 banks on this little piece of land.

We had the best time and came back very refreshed and ready to take on the month of march!

Our house has been for sale since before we even were engaged, Stephen bought at the peak of the market 4 years ago and we were anxious to get out of such a high mortgage! Well while we were away the process took off! IT SOLD! Which was very exciting. They didn’t have a date they wanted us out by so we had a legal 90 days to vacate. Well my BEST friend Lauren got married in Utah on the 12^th of march, she couldn’t have asked for a better spring day. It was beautiful and we had the best time! While we were on that little get away… they offered us more money if we were out by the end of the month! So we got home from Utah and immediately packed up and left! It was amazing how great our families were with helping and how incredible Stephen was at getting everything moved while I was working! He’s so great. So since it went so quickly we decided to move in to my parents basement apartment. It’s a pretty sweet set up, as far as living with your parents is concerned. We have the entire basement to ourselves, its 1700 sq ft with two bedrooms one bathroom and a kitchenette. We are so fortunate! So we’ll be here till the end of summer or whenever we can get into our next house. The trick is finding the dream house!! I get to help pick this time : ) Anyway, that’s what we’ve been up to.

It was so great to be there in the temple with Lauren; both while she received her endowments and was sealed to andy. I’m so happy we could be a part of that. After going thru it myself, there is nothing I wanted more for the rest of my family and for my friends. I was so incredibly proud of her and how far she has come.

The last week of that darn month of march was a pretty tough one. A friend of ours, Paul Root, committed suicide. He jumped off the high bridge at Lucky Peak. It was very sad news, we knew Paul and his sweet wife Kristi from the singles ward we attended for years before we were married. Paul was a great person with a great sense of humor and a love for all people. Paul was mentally ill, he struggled with schizo affective disorder. He went thru many times of ups and downs and I’m sure it was so hard for him and his family and his beautiful wife to endure. He was married to Kristi for a short 10 months. The funeral was beautiful, huge bouquets of colorful spring flowers and pictures of Paul, smiling huge, having fun with friends and family. Those were fun to see. And then there was a room that had Pauls body in it. Sadness immediately filled my heart when I entered the room and saw his sweet new widow standing by his side with a never ending stream of tears running down her face. I cant imagine the pain she must go thru every single hour of the day, having to keep herself together. Kristi is such a sweet girl, she knew exactly what she was getting when she married Paul and she went into it fearless. She loved him and married him anyway even though she knew they would definitely have their tough times. She got up at the end of the service to bear her testimony. The spirit was so strong and I, along with every other person in the room, bawled like a baby. Her faith is so strong and she knows that heavenly father will make everything okay again and that her and Paul will have their time together in heaven and that there will be a time for them to raise a family and do all the things they couldn’t accomplish here on earth. I am amazed at the strength this young widow has. That day she spoke with wisdom beyond her years and I am so proud of her for holding on to what she knows is true even when it seems unfair. We love the Root family and wish strength and love to overcome their sorrow and despair. And for Kristi, I know she will be alright because of the testimony she bore and the friends and family she has to comfort and protect her.

We are so happy for March to be over so we can begin April!! We loovvveee April.

Bright spot in a never ending cloud of grey...

The Beautiful roses my sweet husband came home with this morning to help his ill wife survive this plauge that is upon her.

He sure knows how to make me feel better. Now ever time I walk down stairs I get this immediate smile from ear to ear, curing me even for just a split second. Thank you baby:)


I Love you Stephen