This deserved a post of its own...

Amber: This one is for you. 

Amber is one of my very best friends.  Amber doesn't have a butt.  Literally.  Since we're best friends she'll forgive me for sharing this, but it was absolutely hilarious, and anyone who reads this and knows us will appreciate it.  For Amber's birthday (in February) Landen and I were working on her birthday gift and knew it had to be good.  We always joke about getting Amber a butt implant (she is involved in the joking so you're not allowed to feel bad for her!)...but of course all of us are too poor to get a real one...so we got her one to hold her over until one day we can get her a real one:

***WARNING*** If small children are present you may need to cover their eyes...

Did I ever mention that Landen loves knives???  Well, he does.

You can't see it in the picture, but that is a Disney butt!  And...it got a tattoo later that said: "Love-Landen and Aubrie."  So really, it was a pretty sweet butt implant if I do say so myself!  Happy Birthday my dear friend!

It's Time to Get Caught Up!

I will only apologize once for being behind on my blog because, let's be honest, most people don't consistently keep up on their blogs!  So why should I feel bad?!  There. I feel better now.  I'll get off my soapbox.

Sheesh, where to start? Last thing I blogged about was skiing...so after that it was Landen and my birthdays.  They're just 3 days apart so we got to celebrate together!  It was just one BIG party!  To start off the celebrations we did what has become one of my family's traditions, we went out to eat at Tucanos. YUM!  I absolutley LOVE that place!  Adri and Jared came down to Salt Lake and went with us.  It was such a fun time and the food was delicious as usual :)  Then on our birthday weekend we went up to Newton and spent the weekend with Landen's family.  Wayne and Anita got us something quite fun...a FLIP handheld video camera!  We've had a lot of fun with it!  My parents sent us a box full of goodies :)  The best part was that they got Landen the 20th Anniversary Edition Blue-ray copy of Dances with Wolves.  He was sooooo excited!  Every time we saw it in the store he let me know that he wanted it...so I was a good wife and passed the idea along... For ourselves we ended up buying a Wii!  It was a fabulous purchase!  Between our FLIP and the Wii we've gotten some pretty funny videos!!!  So yes, our birthdays were quite a success.

Jared and Adri

Landen: March 29th    Aubrie: March 26th

Happy Birthday to us!

Aubrie's First Skiing Experience... AAAHHHHH!!!! - March 12, 2011

Probably since I met Landen and we became friends he's been bugging me to go skiing.  He loves skiing and has done it for years.  The pressure came on a little more strongly once the snow hit a few months ago.  I've been dragging my feet because frankly I didn't want to die!  He would be looking online for new skis and say, "Hey look!  I found some that would fit you!"  Ummm...no thank you.  But as time went on he wore me down.  He needs to thank some of the patients in my office at work who encouraged it, especially Leah.  She is a ski instructor at the Canyons Resort in Park City.  I was doing her ultrasound one day and we got talking about skiing and she told me I had to try it and that she said she could get us some discounted passes.  Going for 1/2 the price made it a little more appealing...I'm so cheap!  So, I decided I would finally do it and Landen was sooooooo excited to say the least :) 

Well, I sure had an experience of a lifetime!  I had to go rent my ski equipment and this is how I was feeling afterward:

Saturday came and I was preparing to face the mountain!  Not gonna lie, I was nervous.  Very, very nervous.  We got there and got all our gear on and headed up.  When I got to the ticket office to request the tickets Leah left for us I was trying to pay and the girl looks at me and said, "Those are free."  WHAT?  Leah left us free day passes instead of 1/2 off passes!  Oh my goodness!  That was the nicest thing ever!  It was awesome. 

(note, these two pictures were taken at the end of the day after it started raining, but when we got there it was beautiful!!!  It was sunny and pretty warm :)  I was really grateful for the great weather!) 



This is my scared smile...



All ready to go :)  I definitely wore the yellow jacket just in case I needed to be rescued...

Finally Landen and I got on the new heated bubble lift (it was pretty amazing that it was heated!) and headed up the mountain.  And this is the point where I started freaking out!  HA!  I was so scared.  We got off the first stop of the lift...and that was our first mistake!  But we didn't know it at the time.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I fell the first time off.  Blah. The beginning of the run wasn't too bad and Landen was teaching me how to snowplow and control my speed that way, but I didn't know how to turn yet. Well, eventually that run merged with another one...a BIG BIG BIG one!  AAAHHHHHHHH.  We didn't know this was going to happen.  I was trying to go down but it got too steep for my skill level.  There was really no way I could ski down it.  Due to my lack of being able to turn we were stuck in the dead middle of the run, no joke. Luckily it was so big that people coming down could see you and had plenty of room to avoid us.  Eventually I just laid there and cried because I couldn't do it, I just couldn't.  I had to take my skis off to turn them around and then we headed for the side.  I just scooted across.  It was ridiculous.  Oh, while we were in the middle this snowboarding instructor came down and asked us what was going on and then she started kinda yelling at us that we were in the wrong place for beginners and she was just really rude and then just snowboarded away and didn't even offer to help!  That didn't help my emotional state at all.  Anyway.

We got over to the side, finally, and we were trying to decide what to do when some workers/ski patrol guys came and asked us if we needed any help.  They were sooooo nice!  I'm so grateful for them!  They literally saved me!  They told us they would get me out of there and to where I needed to be.  They carried my skis down while I walked down...and eventually slid down on my butt...to where it flattened out and I could get my skis back on.  We had to take a lift back up...yes, UP...I wasn't too thrilled about it at first, but it worked out.  They were so good to me and wanted to make it a good day.  Hey, I got off the lift without falling that time!!!  Progress!  That one got us almost right to the beginners run :)  Happy day!  They skied me the rest of the way down...so I pretty much got a free lesson from them!  That was pretty cool.  It felt soooo much better being where I should have been...glad we finally made it there!  They took me through the ski school part and helped me learn how to turn.  They kept telling me to let my skis get a little speed because they work better if they're moving.  Well, I finally started to get the hang of it and it was actually fun!  Yes, I said FUN.  It ended up being a positive experience thanks to my new friends :)  Oh, and thanks to Landen, he was soooo good to me!  He was so patient...love that boy :)  We got back to where they do the adult ski school and I finally got to sit down and get some water, I was exhausted at this point.  We sat for a few minutes and I wished I could have practiced a little more, but my legs were shot, so we took the gondola down to the bottom.  Landen made me promise the night before that I would go at least one more time after today and I will definitely try it again.  It was fun once I finally got the hang of it so hopefully next time I'll be able to remember how to do it :)  All in all it was a good experience!  I'm glad I finally did it!  Now nobody can bug me about it anymore. 

 I DID IT!!!

 

When we got down to the bottom we went and ate lunch, which was delicious!  The worst part was wearing those dang ski boots!!!  I was sooooo ready to get those off!  After lunch Landen went and did a few runs by himself so he could actually SKI...and I went down to the car to get out of those boots!  Man...that felt soooooo good :)  Then I went and walked around some shops until Landen was done.  By that time it had started to rain so we headed out.  It was a fun day!  Glad the first time is over though!!!  The second time must be better...it has to be....I'll let you know in a few months! 

On our way home we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Park City...and it was awesome!!!  We got some sweet deals!!!  We saved over $400!  Oh yeah, that felt good.  It's probably bad that we found those outlets...I'll have to limit my time there...ha! 

A Visit to Provo - February 19, 2011

One rainy day in Feburary Landen and I headed south for the day...we went to Springville to meet up with our friend Brandon so he could help Landen fix his computer.  It had died.  Literally.  While they talked computers I read my book.  Eventually we had to go to Best Buy to get a new hard drive for Landen's computer then we took Brandon to lunch at Zupas (another favorite!!! YUM.).  From there Des and Erin came and picked me up so we could hang out while the boys kept working on the computer.  It was soooo good to see them, it's been way too long.  We went back to Des' apartment and hung out and visited some old friends there.  It was weird being back at Alta now that I'm married...yep, really weird.  But it was a fun visit!  Especially because my friend Jeff saw me and literally jumped into my arms and wrapped himself around me so I was completely holding him!!!  What made it so much better was because it was JEFF.  He doesn't do things like that.  But anyway.  It was fun catching up with the girls!  Love them!  Des and I helped Erin get ready for her date that night...and that inspired some picture taking...

We decided this would look great on Rin!  Who wouldn't want a piece of that?!

I look deep in thought...I think I was just super tired!

Des' roommate found this mini Where's Waldo book at DI...it was awesome!  But I can tell I'm getting older, it was straining my eyes a little...

Desirae, Me and Erin back together again :)

We were talking about how funny the mannequins were posed at this one store...so Rin demonstrated for us as follows:

I have such great friends!  It was a fun rainy afternoon!  After Erin left for her date Des and I did a little shopping...aka walking around looking at things.  Then Landen was supposed to come pick me up...umm, yeah, I had the keys. OOPS.  So Des had to drive me down to Springville, but it's all good :)  Fun, fun day!

Sleepover! February 18, 2011

My "little sisters," Kailee and Brittany came over one Friday night to visit and have a sleepover!  I don't care that I'm 26, I can still have sleepovers!!!  The funny thing is that I used to babysit these girls...and now they're both in COLLEGE! What?  When did that happen???  Ah!  I'm getting old!  But anyway, we had a blast!  We got pizza and ice cream and ate and talked our little heads off...and Landen suffered through it all!!!  Okay, I don't think he suffered too bad...he seemed to enjoy himself...and he was able to give the girls advice on guys from a guy's perspective, a guy who is impartial...what girl doesn't love that?!  It was so fun to talk and laugh and stay up late...I'm so glad we were able to get together.  They make me so super happy :) 

Brittany, Me and Kailee

Love, love, love these girls!!!

Quote of the night: "I'm pretty on the inside!!!"  So we had to take a picture to go with it!

Valentine's Day ~ 2011

This was obviously Landen and my first Valentine's Day together :)  Our celebrations were spread out over the entire week and we had a great time.  We went out to Texas Roadhouse (our favorite!) for dinner one night...and it was delicious!  Landen got the movie "SALT" for his gift...glad I get to enjoy it too!  Bonus.  My gift comes with a story.  While we were in Logan we took my ring in to get it cleaned and buffed because I nicked it pretty bad.  Our friend Kris, who sold us our rings, was there and when I showed her she says, "I think I'm going to send this out so they can buff it really good and re-dip it..."  UM...EXCUSE ME?  SEND IT OUT???  I was NOT okay with that!  I didn't want to go without a ring for at least a week...no thank you.  So i got browsing around just for fun.  I asked Kris what was really cheap or on sale and she brought out this one...and I loved it!  It's all sapphires:

So this quickly became my Valentine's gift!  I wore it as a fill in for my wedding ring until I got it back and now it's my "fun" ring.  I love it!  Funny how I ended up with a piece of jewelry for our first Valentine's day together when I'm the girl who always says, "Don't buy me jewelry!"  HA!  I'm satisfied now though, I don't need anymore.  Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life!  Love you, Landen.

Weekend Fun :)

February 11th:  This weekend was much needed!  After a looooonnngggg week at work, I sure needed some R&R.  And after the stress of Landen being laid off 2 weeks ago but miraculously starting a new job the next week and all the changes that brought along, we needed some time away.  We had been planning this weekend for a little while with Adri and Anita and it couldn't have come at a better time!  They came down to our house on Thursday night and stayed with us.  We had fun talking and catching up and eating delicious cream cheese chicken :)  On Friday we all slept in a little which was so nice.  After getting up and moving we headed out to do a little shopping.  It was great to just be out having a good time with the people we love!  After some shopping we ate lunch at Landen and my new favorite burger joint and it was just as good the second time around!  Then we headed down to Orem to go watch Jared, Adr's boyfriend, wrestle for the Air Force Academy.  It was awesome that they were wrestling at UVU!  We ended up sitting in the UVU fan section, but oh well, we still cheered our little hearts out for Air Force, especially for Jared!  It was so fun to see him in action...and he came away with a victory!!!  Go J! After the match Jared was allowed to stay and fly out the next morning instead of going with the team right after the match, so we got to go to dinner with him and his family and he came and hung out with us for a little while until we all headed back up to Logan.  It was such a fun day!  I really needed a fun, relaxing day and I'm so glad we got to spend it with Nita and Adri!



Friday night we drove up to Logan and spent the weekend with his family.  It was nice to be up here again.  After being here every weekend this past summer I sure miss it.  Landen was supposed to go skiing on Saturday but his friend got sick and couldn't go, so he decided to stay home.  We all just hung out all day. Adri babysat one of her friend's baby, Quincey, and she was so darn cute!  It was fun being around such a happy baby.  That night Landen and I went and visited his friends.  We ate and talked and played Scattergories...which I LOVE!  And I totally kicked butt!!!  It was fun to see Brad, Emily, Christa and Nate again.  We stayed out waaaayyyyy too late but it was fun to act like we're young again...oh wait, like I'M young again!