Suprise Visit from Jenna Anne...

Oh, the power of Facebook. I was on Facebook on Wednesday when I saw that my little sisters Status was "Jenna is bored out of her head!!!! Any ideas of what I can do??" Now, this theme is a pretty common status on Facebook these days. People are always bored and looking for something to do. There were all sorts of suggestions including blowing something up, eating a sandwich, painting her toenails, and hooking up with Tyler Newbold! I decided to add to the mass of suggestions by saying "Come play with me!" In less than 10 minutes (and after I bribed her with cookies) she was on her way! It was AWESOME! We had such a good time! We made a delicious dinner, and we made cookies (I always come through on my bribes). I had to go do my visiting teaching for a little bit, so Jenna and David hung out but the rest of the night was full of games and fun! (Not to mention full of delicious popcorn!) I am so glad that Jenna came up to visit, I miss her (and the rest of my family) so much. We always have a good time.

My beautiful little sister and I. People used to think we were twins, but we don't look anything alike in this picture.

Jenna, showcasing just ONE of the games we played. (The others were Mexican Train and Phase Ten)

This is what I came home to after Visiting Teaching. My sweet David had written me a love note using Reese's Pieces and a heart shaped cookie!

This is a close up of my "Love note." Cute huh!

The following are the top ten reasons why I love my little sister Jenna:

1. She is such a good example to me and she always helps me be a better person.
   
2. She makes me laugh.
3. She is the most mature silly person that I know.
   
4. She balances me out. (For those of you who have seen the movie or read the book Pride and Prejudice, I am very much like Elizabeth (prideful, stubborn, opinionated) and Jenna embodies ALL of the most wonderful qualities of Jane (kind, caring, loving, sensitive, gentle, peacemaker, always looking for the best in people and situations). (In fact, someday I hope to name one of my daughters Jenna Jane.)
   
5. We have so many wonderful childhood memories that make me laugh even just thinking about them, even though I can't fully remember why they were funny in the first place.
   
6. She is forgiving when I do dumb things.
   
7. She is beautiful. (I hope that when people say we look alike it means that I look like her, not that she looks like me!)
   
8. She is optomistic.
9. She makes my Dad smile when she comes into the room and she fills our home with a special form of love.
   
10. Jenna has been my best friend since... always. She is seriously such a good sister to me. I was cleaning out a box of stuff that I haven't unpacked yet and I found a handmade birthday card from her from two years ago. There is a huge heart on the front, and inside there is a picture of the two of us when we were really little, wearing ridiculous sunglasses. It made me tear up just looking at it! Jenna blesses my life every day through her love and her example.

I LOVE YOU JENNA!

ps. These are some random pictures that I have taken over the last week or so. I thought I should add them at the end.

David standing by the front door of our apartment. Please notice the really cute wreath on our door (our neighbors, the McNinches, gave it to us as a wedding gift) and the fan in the doorway (the only thing saving us from death by heat exhaustion!). Also note how incredibly handsome David is in his Aggie apparel (It is fate that he looks so good in Navy Blue!)

If you look really hard you can see a rainbow in the clouds. It was BEAUTIFUL. I couldn't capture the beauty, but use your imagination and remember to thank God for the small wonderful gifts he gives us every day!

My love of Reading...

Esther Meynell once said,
"Books, to the reading child, are so much more than books -- they are dreams and knowledge, they are a future, and a past.

I love books. I love everything about books. I love the way I become absorbed in a different world full of different people and different adventures. When I start reading a book it is hard for me to force myself to put it down and do something else. Lately I have been reading a ton. It's been such a long time since I have been able to read this much. I LOVE IT. One of the reasons that I love reading so much is because I learn incredible things. For example: a bunch of the books that I have read lately have taken place around the time of the French Revolution. I have learned a lot of really cool things. In fact, the French Revolution is my new favorite thing to learn about. Last weekend David and I went to the library and I came home with about 6 books about the french revolution. It's fabulous.

Books to me are knowledge. They feed my hunger for knowledge of things I didn't even know I was looking for. I love reading and I love that my handsome husband also loves to read. It's a pastime that we both enjoy. A couple of weeks ago there was a big rainstorm while we were driving home from work. As soon as we got home we pulled all of the cushions off our couch and set them up on our porch. We grabbed our books and a couple of blankets and had a wonderful evening reading outside. (Unfortunately it stopped raining, but it was so beautiful and smelled so good!) I don't think there is anything in the world that could be better than to sit outside on a makeshift couch cuddling with my wonderful husband under a pile of blankets while reading a book!

The Crock Pot Bet

I have been meaning to post about this for a while since the culmination of the whole Crock Pot event happened over the Fourth of July weekend, but I hope you still enjoy this regardless of it's lateness.

First, some background information on this story. When David and I were registering for wedding gifts I convinced him NOT to register for a crock pot because my vast experience concerning wedding gifts said that you will get at least 5 crock pots no matter whether you ask for one or not! ("Experience" meaning listening to stories from my previously married friends.) Davids argument was that if we register for a crock pot, then at least we would get the one that we wanted! We decided not to put a Crock Pot on the registry but rather to place a bet on whether or not we would actually receive a Crock Pot. I was very confident in my stance and knew that I would win (which is a big deal, David wins 95.8% of all bets we make).

It seemed that there was nothing left to do but wait! I could just sit back, relax and wait to collect my prize. But then... the gifts started coming, and none of them were in the shape of a crock pot. Not one of my bridal showers resulted in the desired crock pot (although I was so blessed to receive so much support from so many people). After we got back from our Honeymoon, we opened all of the wonderful gifts that we received but to no avail. There was not a crock pot to be found. My confidence was starting to wane, but I wasn't ready to give up hope! We still hadn't opened the presents at my parents house! I think that you can see a pattern here. Long story short... as much as I tried to will each oddly shaped package into being a crock pot, it never worked. David was full of "I told you so's" and ready to step up and declare himself as winner. BUT... Gifts were still trickling in and I was not ready to admit defeat!


Then came the day, that this precious little thing showed up at Davids house! David and I were in West Jordan for the Fourth of July weekend, when someone stopped by, apologized for not being able to make it to the reception and dropped it off. Davids sister, Amy, was the lucky person who answered the door. David was shopping with his Dad and I was downstairs reading my book.
Later that evening, when David got home Amy told us that someone had dropped a gift by, but she didn't recognize them. The problem was... They forgot to sign their name on the card!

The card came and all it said was "David and Shantel, Congratulations on your Wedding." Immediately accusations began to fly! David and his brothers were convinced that I was behind the Mysterious Crock Pot! The story that they came up with involved me buying the crock pot previously, convincing one of my friends to drive all the way to Davids house and having them drop off the present. It was so funny. The silly boys. I promised that I did not buy the crock pot and that I didn't tell anyone to buy the crock pot! I shortly thereafter announced my victory. David wasn't going to give in so easy though. He said that I didn't win because regardless of whether or not we had actually received the Crock Pot, I had cheated by posting a plea for it on Facebook. (I was teasing David and I posted my facebook status to say something about desperately needing a crock pot!) I finally got him to admit that it was a tie.

Later that night as we were getting ready for bed I admitted that I had a small part in the mysterious crock pot. Amy and I had been talking earlier and she VOLUNTEERED to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and buy a crock pot. She had the girl at the store write the note so no one would recongnize the handwriting. It was a genius plan and was such a good time!

Conclusion of this fabulous story? We now have a crock pot! It is way cool and we love it! (Thank you Amy for picking out a crock pot that is so perfect!) Also, I didn't lose the bet because we DID get a crock pot! David and I agreed to tie. YES! This means that David's percent of winning our bets has decreased... at least to 91.3%. I feel very successful about the whole thing.

Jon Schmidt

Last weekend was such a good one. David and I had so much fun! The highlight of the weekend was that we were able to go to the Jon Schmidt concert at the Sandy Amphitheater Friday night! It was incredible and we had a lot of fun. The music was great and the amphitheater was outside which was really cool.
Saturday wasn't as much fun for poor David, he studied for the GMAT all morning and then in the afternoon he drove up to campus and took his first practice test, which he did really well on! I am so proud of my brilliant husband. However, he will only be completely satisfied if he scores high enough to get enough scholarship money to pay for all of his schooling. Crazy boy. I love him. I had a good time writing emails and going shopping. Sunday was even better because church was wonderful and then we just got to come home, hang some picture frames and read our books! (I finished the Scarlet Pimpernel, which I LOVED!!!)

Here are some pictures from our Friday night Adventures!

David and I doubled with Heather and her date, Greg. Greg was already down in Salt Lake, so we drove to Sandy with Heather and met Greg there. It was so much fun to be able to chat and catch up with Heather. She is such a sweet girl and I am SO grateful for her!


This is David and I at the Concert. We had great seats and we loved being able to lay in the grass and listen to the amazing music coming from the talented musician on stage! (PS. I nicknamed us as being "The Glasses Gang" because Davids eyes have really been bothering him and he has stuck in glasses for the last week or so. I was putting in my contacts the other morning and they were not cooperating, so in a temper tantrum fit for a three year old. I threw them ceremoniously in the trash and decided to join David in wearing glasses!)



This is our view of the stage. There were lots of people there, but we could see everything perfectly!


Waiting for the show to start. David looked so handsome in his new shirt that his sister Amy and I talked him into buying last weekend. Thank you Amy for backing me up on how good he looked in it! (As well as backing me up on the plaid shorts thing! Love them!)



This was during the performance of "Love Story Meets Viva La Vida". It was INCREDIBLE. Also, it was the FIRST time they had ever performed it live! It really was amazing. I was loving my life.

The incredible sunset we got to watch during the performance. Beautiful.


David and I after the show. It was so much fun!


We stopped at a 7-11 on the way home... which inspired these pictures:

David was such a good sport and posed with the giant birthday card. I love this boy.



David tried to extract revenge by stealing the camera and making me pose. I'm trying to look cool while I slurp my 7-11 Slurpee.


I don't have any pictures from the rest of the weekend. (Which is probably for the best seeing how I have already overloaded this post with pictures.) But it was just as good as this night. Our apartment is really coming together! Most of our picture frames are up and we have the kitchen all organized and all of our gifts from the wedding put away. I love our apartment, and I most especially love being married to my sweet love, David!

Night of Firsts!!!

Last night was a fabulous night. It's so fun to be in a new apartment and be able to be doing so many things for the first time. It's a good thing that I had so much to keep me busy because my wonderful husband is taking the GMAT in just a few short weeks, and he has been studying for that. He is so dedicated to doing well in school (he is so smart and studies so incredibly hard!) and I look up to that so much. I try not to distract him too much, so it's good for me to have so many little projects to work on! Here is a picture of David studying his little heart out:


Cute isn't he? I think so, too! So while David was studying, these are the things I was busy doing... I give you...
"The Night of Firsts!"

I hung our first picture frame in our house! You would think that because we have been married for over a month now we would have already decorated our apartment. But the thing is... we didn't have enough room in our car to bring up all of our wedding presents when we first got married, and we didn't have the chance to bring them back until this last weekend. We decided that we would rather not hang anything until we knew everything that we wanted to hang up so we could decide on the correct placement of everything. But, we have everything now... so pretty soon our apartment is going to be completely decorated and even more wonderful than it is now.

David and I made Homemade Ice Cream together for the first time! This is our cute little ice cream maker that we got for our wedding. David and I made the mixture but this is a picture of me when I went out to check on it. It turned out fabulously! Except for the part where I spilled a large amount of the mixture onto our front porch. Yikes! Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk (or half-and-half mixed with whipping cream and sugar in this case!)



This was also the night that I first wore my new apron! I have this thing about aprons. I absolutely love them! There are 5 aprons hanging up in my pantry right now (4 of them are mine, and one is Davids! Although, he hasn't worn it yet). Isn't this such a cute apron! Love it.

Another first? Yes! The first time I used our new Kitchen-Aid! My parents bought David and I a Kitchen-Aid as a wedding gift. I am so excited. I can't wait to make my Dad's famous homemade Honey-Whole-Wheat Bread! There wasn't time for the last night, however... I did make brownies! To go with our ice cream of course. Both turned out wonderfully.



Here are the delicious brownies I made in our lovely Kitchen-Aid. This was also the first time I ever tried making brownies in a small clay/ceramic pan. Turns out, thats not the best idea if you are trying to time your brownies with your ice cream. To make brownies in an insulated pan (i.e CLAY/CERAMIC) you must add on 7 minutes to the bake time. To make it in a pan that is closer to a 9x9 than a 9x13 pan adds on about 10 minutes! It took almost twice as long for the brownies to completely cook. I really need to work on how to time the different things I am cooking so they all get done at the same time!



Here is a picture of one of the delicious brownies, on our NEW PLATES! Yep, tonight was also the first night we used our new Corelle Plates!! (We used them for dinner, but I didn't realize that it was going to be such a night of firsts, so I didn't get a picture of them. I still wanted to post a picture of them so you could see how cute they are. We wanted to get nice Corelle plates, but couldn't find any that we liked until this last weekend. This is what Davids parents gave to us for our wedding along with a super wonderful Bedspread set. Last night was also the first night that we had our bed all set up with our new Bedspread, sheets, pillows, and the works... I thought I took a picture of it... but... turns out I didn't get one. I will put one up here sometime.



The last first! This is the first time I ever kissed David!


Okay... maybe not... :)


One more first. Last night was the first night I have ever run out of space on my camera card. I couldn't find my camera, so I was using Davids camera that was already full of pictures! I suppose it was for the best anyway.

I really like the whole Blogging idea. I have many more pictures from this weekend, but I decided to get these pictures up before my excitement over my "Night of Firsts" wore off. Soon I will post about our 4th of July weekend. We had SO much fun... and I am excited to share some stories!