wanna get to know us?

I think it's time for a little get to know us post!  Here are a few facts about the "Barbie and Ken" ;)

I played the piano for many, many years and I was actually pretty good at it.  I miss it everyday.  Someday when we buy a home we will have a piano!

Vacation is a necessity for me.  I need to have something to look forward to!  And I really want to see the world!

I love babies.  I just can't get enough of them!  Luckily, we have the cutest niece and nephews ever, plus our friend's all have adorable babies so I get my fix :)

I have missing permanent teeth.  You said it...weirdo right here! :)  I'm missing 2 molars on the bottom, you wouldn't ever notice.  Up top I'm missing some important teeth.  I have my 2 big front teeth, then my canines..... no in betweens. :)

I've never changed up my hair color.  Weird for a hairstylist, right?

I could eat chips and salsa everyday for the rest of my life.  Love that stuff!

He love Reece's! (A huge thank you to Shalyn for introducing us to Reece's minis...you are partly to blame for our early morning workouts..ha!)

He is a huge baseball fan. 

For some reason he likes people to think he's an ornery old man.  But really he's mushy gushy and all that lovey stuff inside ;)

He is the best handyman I've ever met. Seriously, you name it, he can fix it.

He's pretty freakin' HOT!

-We love to dance!

-I know we say it all the time but... we have the best family and friend's in the world!

-We are ridiculously addicted to Netflix.

-Eating is our favorite past time.  We are good at it.  Too good, if you know what I mean.

-We are the biggest dorks around and there is hardly a dull moment with us :)
-We love to go shopping together.
-Eric buys the expensive sunglasses (I'm talking $100 a pop...minimum) because he knows how to take care of them.  I get $5-$10 sunglasses because I always break mine :(
-I like to cook, he likes to bake!
-Some time's we want to kill each other, but mostly we just LOVE to love each other :)

swimming with the family :)

Swimming with my cute niece and nephews, sisters in law, and brother in law... CHECK

Tons of junk food... CHECK

Perfect weather... CHECK!

It was so nice to be a kid for the day.  No worries, no cares, just lots and lots of FUN!

Today it's back to real life.  Working out at the crack of dawn (including tons of sit ups haha!), deep cleaning our home, work, etc.   Guess that's what happens when you take a break from life :)
We all know how much I love my husband.  But can I just say how lucky I am to have married into the Brinkerhoff's?  They are such an amazing family and I'm so glad I get to be apart of it.  I love them so much and I know they love me :)  See what I mean?  Lucky!

hiking and a perfect weekend

Eric didn't have to work Friday so we got to have an extra day to play!  Amy posted about a hike she and her husband went on and was nice enough to share the location with me so Eric and I went!  We had such a great time, it was beautiful weather, and it smelled so good!  Haha seriously, it brought back all sorts of memories from camping when I was younger!  I've been nagging Eric to take me camping since before we were married and 3 years later...still nothin'!  His excuse is that he can't picture me camping and when I prove to him that I'm ready, he'll take me.  Ok, so that might have something to do with the fact that when my family would go camping... my parent's would get a hotel at the bottom of the mountain.  Haha.  But any chance I had to sleep in the tent with my cousin's I'd do it!  And I never complained at girl's camp!  I seriously LOVE to camp!  I promise!
Soooo, I need some friend's to plan a camping trip with us so that it will get Eric motivated to take me camping!!  Who's up for it?!  :)

The rest of our weekend involved shopping (if my man won't take me camping, at least he'll take me shopping!) hanging out with amazing friends, eating way too much good food, and laughing til we cried!  Life is good. :)

p.s.  You guys always give me the sweetest compliments about my side pony, I just wanted to show you the little surprise I have goin' on to make it a little less boring :)

 BAM!

(so original, I know. Ha!)

our mexican excursions+button lovin'

It took alot of work to talk Eric into going on this cruise!  I'm not sure why he had to give me so much grief leading up to our vacation, but he just wasn't very excited.  So I chose Mexico because I wanted the beach and sunshine, and I knew Eric would love spending time in Mexico again.  He served his mission in Mexico City so he is 100% fluent in spanish plus he knew the mexican slang.  It was SO awesome to see him in action.  He fit right in and the people just loved him.  And lucky for me... he had the best time ever! :)

Our cruise ship :)

Lover's beach.  Need I say more?

We really liked Cabo's beaches, but not the town.

Don't ask my why, but I am in love with this picture!  I want to blow it up and frame it haha!

We did a little more sight seeing in Mazatlan and went on the worst horse carriage ride ever.  Definitely our least favorite of all 3 ports.

My little dress Eric bargained for.  Knowing the language came in very handy!

Darn.  Those just would not fit in our suit case! ;)

Puerto Vallarta-our favorite!

We rented a jet ski and had the time of our lives!

Just relaxing and living the good life ;)  Best/biggest virgin pino colada ever!  And the coke is best in Mexico!

We can't wait for our next cruise!!  Oh and if you want our opinion...Royal Caribbean is the only way to go :)

p.s. Did anyone notice a couple changes around here?  I also spent a few hours slaving over those ridiculous buttons :)  What do you think!?  Love 'em/hate 'em?  I'd love some opinions!!

anniversary cruise 2010

I am in serious need of a vacation!  I realize we just had an adventure a few weeks ago but when I say vacation, I mean I need a beach and LOTS of food ;)  Last year, for our 2 year anniversary we cruised down to Mexico and had the perfect week!!  So here comes a picture overload of the fun we had around the ship :)

peace out LA!

We had lots of pool time!

May 03, 2010

2 years

Our dinner group

We went to lots of shows.

Our ship had ice skating and rock climbing!

Of course we had animals each night in our room :)  (not including me!)

lots and lots of pool time :)

We had such a fun/relaxing time!  We'd recommend a cruise to everyone.  My next post will be full of pictures our excursions in Mexico!!  Lots of beach pictures :) 

date night and some lovin'

I think this early morning work out thing just might work.... especially if we keep rewarding ourselves with date nights like these :)  YUM!

Poor Eric... I made hm take a picture before he could have one bite.. haha!

We had such a fun little date last night!  We normally don't go out on weeknights so I love the change.  I curled my hair for my man, he shaved for me (I love me a clean shaved face!), we had the yummiest/unhealthiest dinner we could find, then watched as many Prison Break episodes as we could before bed time!  It was a perfect night :)

I'm about to get a little sappy now.  (As if I'm never sappy on my boggy?  Ha!)  I was so lucky to be able to witness a friend marry her sweet man today.  I LOVE weddings!  I love the rush of emotions I get each time I/we go to one.  I am reminded of my wedding day and how excited I was to be marrying the perfect man for me.  I loved him so much.  I have to say, though marriage hasn't always been easy, I love Eric more now than ever before! 

The sealer was giving some advice to the future Mr. and Mrs. and something he said stuck out in my mind.  He was telling a story where a man said the next step he wanted to take in his life was to find the love of his life and marry her.  Someone gave the man this advice: Learn to love the one you find, not find the one you love.  Gosh, I just love that!!  I think it is SO easy to fall in love.  But to stay in love?  That just seems so difficult these days.  Marriage is hard work.  Like I said before, Eric and I know first hand how true that is.  But it is SO worth it!  With each new stage in our life we have to adjust to the change, we have to learn how to function together, and we will continue to learn to love each other throughout all the changes.

I am so happy Eric is my husband!  I would not want to go through life's challenges with anyone else.  We are both very dedicated to our marriage.  I know we will work hard, together, to love each other more and more each day.  And I am so grateful for wonderful advice that will help make our lives happier! :)



homemade Winger's freakin' amazing sauce!

The other day Eric and I had a talk.  We decided something has to change... We love donuts, ice cream, candy, stale peeps, we love all that crap!  But we've been slacking on the exercising!  Why is it soooo much easier to sit around watching TV and eating junk, than exercising?  Seriously!  Anyway, we decided we need to start exercising much MUCH more regularly or we'll have to donate all our treats to.....well, are there any takers out there?! ;)  The point is... we're getting up at 5am 2-3 mornings a week to go running and lift weights. kill.me.now. 5AM!!
And on that note... I'm sharing a yummy, easy, probably very unhealthy recipe today :)  Who loves Wingers?!  Personally, I love the sauce!!  I just don't love eating at the restaurant.  I had to work there during the last couple months of hair school and it was NOT my favorite job.  But I've found the solution!!  Some of our best friend's had us over for dinner one night and she whipped up the yummiest meal ever, we couldn't tell the difference between her chicken and Winger's chicken!  So I'm here to share the wealth!

Winger's freakin' amazing sauce:
1/3 c. Franks Hot Sauce (I found Frank's Hot Sauce at walmart)
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. water
Heat up hot sauce, brown sugar and water in a sauce pot until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp before adding to wings/chicken OR prepare ahead of time and refrigerate.
Full recipe found here.

Haha I have NO idea how to take a "good" picture of food :)

We threw in some sweet potato fries, mixed the sauce with ranch for some freakin' amazing creamy sauce, and asparagus.  Oooh!  Want to know my new FAVORITE way to make asparagus?  Go look here.  It's like candy.  YUM!

So there you have it!  The yummiest, easiest sauce ever.  And another reason why we need to be better about exercising :)  I am all about posting unhealthy recipes, but personally I'd love some healthy recipes.  If you have any yummy healthy recipes that you love, please share!!

p.s.  Thank you so much for being so sweet and understanding, friends!  I was so nervous to post about something I've been so insecure about, but I wanted it out there that everyone suffers in some form or another.  And that there IS good in every situation.  So thank you for being SO wonderful :)

something I learned from a little trial in my life

I'm getting a little bit serious over here today :)  I always try to be myself on this blog.  I really hope that my personality is very obvious in my writing.  I want my blog to be a happy place, because I truly am a happy girl.  But some time's I go through hard times, and some time's I need to post about it because this is my "journal".  I really am going to print it into a book so that our good times, and bad will be recorded.
With that said, I know I've complained about my face on here before, but I want to write about my experience.  I've been very lucky to have high self esteem, I've really never struggled with my image...until 23?!  My body went through a major hormone imbalance (birth control..never taking that crap again!) and resulted in my face exploding with acne..within like 2 months.  It was SO fast, so nasty, so ugly, and SO painful. 
I was SO shocked out how physically painful acne is.  My favorite feeling in the world is when a sweet baby touches my face.  Their soft little hands always make me feel so loved.  The first time a baby touched my acne covered face I almost lost it.  Instant tears.  Nothing had ever hurt more.  Honestly, I am so heartbroken for those that have acne all over their bodies.  I can't imagine feeling the pain in my face, all over my body.
I didn't have to endure the physical pain for very long, but I am still recovering from the emotional pain.  It is just CRAZY how my self esteem plummeted, like over night.  It is really embarrassing for me to admit what thoughts ran through my head, but here goes!  Actually, first I need to say that Eric was such a champ through all of this.  All the sudden his wife turned into a depressed, and crazy emotional girl, and he was nothing but supportive.  He never EVER made me feel less than beautiful.  I don't know how I got so lucky :)  I do admit though, I went crazy, and I was so so SO worried that Eric wouldn't love me anymore.  I just felt so ugly, inside and out, that I thought he'd regret marrying me.  We had just moved across the state (this probably played into the acne) and I thought for sure, no one would want to be my friend.  Who would want to talk to me with my nasty face?  I would like to think that I'm friends with everyone.  I certainly don't base my friendships off of looks, I was just out of control and could/would not think rationally.  I thought my clients would hate looking at my face and they'd stop coming to me.  I thought I'd lose all my friends.  I wasn't very much fun and I complained all the time.  The acne just consumed my every thought.  I suffered through every negative comment I could come up with.  Isn't this all just RIDICULOUS?!  And so irrational.  But it's real. 
Dr. Tim Nowatzke changed my life.  I know how lame that sounds, but he fixed/is still fixing my face and I could not be more grateful.  If you live in Southern Utah, and have any skin problems PLEASE go see him.  Especially if you've lost your mind, like I obviously did.  It'll be the best thing you can do for yourself!
As my face started to heal, I realized all the extra pain I'd caused myself, and my loved ones.  I don't think my parents appreciated their daughter destroying her self image.  What kind of example was I setting for my nephews and especially my niece?  Eric, who loves me no matter what, watched me beat myself up every second of every day.  I don't put up with it when he is hard on himself, why did I make him suffer through that with me?  I had let myself forget the most important detail, that I am a daughter of God.  I was created in the image of Him.  I strive to be the best example of Him, to be a good person, to love as He loves.  I forgot all of that.  I let the adversary over come my every thought.  As ugly as I felt on the outside, I was truly that ugly on the inside.  I say this because I never want to forget.  I will have so many more trials in my life time and I don't want to let myself go back to that dark spot in my life. 
I feel so blessed to know that my Heavenly Father loves me.  I have the most amazing family and friend's in the world.  And I have learned that it is so important to love myself.  I am so thankful to Tim Nowatzke for healing my face, and I hope I never have to go through this again.  But if I do, I hope to do it with a little more grace :)  I am so glad that I am pretty much back to normal!  I love being happy :)
 

tmi??

Warning:  I am extremely attracted to my husband, and I will try to seduce him in public.....

What an awful angle on my nose... geez louis!!  And was my hair seriously that short?!

This love sick girl is crazy busy working out of town this week.  But I'm not too busy to be missing my man :)  I started searching through the pictures on my parents computer to see what pictures they had of me and Eric and I found this one.  Seriously?!  Seriously?!  Facial expression=open book.....NO BUENO!  Note to self: Pay attention to surroundings (and people holding camera's) and spare the poor souls around you who do NOT want to see any of that!  

On that note... I sure do love my Eric :)  Can't wait to be back in his arms again!

Moab 2011 (adventure #2)

As we were driving our way down to my grandparents home we were listening to the radio and heard that there was an arts festival in Moab.  So we decided that would be a good place to stop, stretch our legs, and look around :)  I can't remember if I've ever been to Moab before so I was excited!  The art's festival was cool, the people watching was very entertaining, but what I want to talk about is the deep fried twinkie we tried...

YUM!!  I did not think I'd like it at all... but fried anything is so good!  Why is that?!  Next on my list, deep fried candy bars! :)  I know...disgusting. :)

Just in case you didn't get a good enough look the first time ;)

On our way home from my grandparents we had a quick pit stop just outside of Moab called "Hole N' the Rock". 

This is a 5,000 sq. foot home...in the rock!  Crazy!  If you'd like to read more here is the website.  We found this in the gift shop...

Charmed?  Now you know why I love my husband ;)

And now for the main adventure (or the adventure that we had planned ha) in Moab.  We went to Arches National Park!  We were only there for an hour and a half.  I know, crazy.  But we still had a long drive ahead.  But I enjoyed the time we spent exploring!!  And it had me craving Lake Powell like no other!  Who else thinks these rocks remind them of Lake Powell?!

This is my FAVORITE picture I got of the double arches!

I'm the one in blue :)

 North and South windows

Balancing Rock

Isn't the landscaping just amazing?!  I know that spending an hour here, a couple hours there is no way to see Moab and it's surrounding beauties.  But we definitely plan on going back to explore a lot more!