tag/questions?

Let me just start off my saying that I am one big lame-o. I have the best bloggy friends who have tagged me in these fun, fact-filled posts... and I keep forgetting to post my own! So I'm answering 2 questions from each of the blogs, and if I've forgotten to include anyone in my list please let me know so I can fix that asap! I have a post coming in a few days full or random facts about me, so I'll just let you wait to read those. Ooh the suspense :) Haha, I kid!

Bethany's questions:
1. What is one thing you would tell your 16-year-old self? You have plenty of self confidence, SHOW IT. And stop caring about others opinions, it truly doesn't matter what they think.
2. What is your favorite thing about blogging? I love being able to journal our lives and be able to share pictures that go along with the story. But my favorite part has been all of the amazing girls I meet and the new friends I make!

Taylor's questions:
1. What was the best day of your life? This may sound so cliche, but the best day of my life was the day I married Eric for eternity. I'm a lucky girl :)
2. What is 1 thing you are OCD about? Hair. Not necessarily my hair, because it's a mess more often than not. But being a hairstylist, I am OCD with my client's hair. Which is a good thing, right? That's what they're paying me fore :)

Amy's questions:
1. Favorite thing to do on a Saturday? Anything as long as I'm with Eric, I love to play with him and take advantage of having the whole day to ourselves. I'm pretty sure that our favorite Saturday activities for the next few months will be: snow boarding, playing in Vegas, and getting the heck out of this small town haha.
2. Favorite board game? Mexican Train! Does that count even though there's no board? If not, I love the electronic version of Monopoly. But my kids will not be playing that version, I don't want them to learn that they can buy whatever the heck they want as long as they swipe a card. Eric and I have never had to deal with credit card debt, and we're going to try to teach our kids to stay away from that too!

Liesl's questions:
1. If you could settle anywhere in the world and just enjoy life, where would you want it to be? I couldn't tell you a specific city.... but anywhere with a sunny, warm beach. I can learn to love any place I live as long as Eric's by my side (I really have to keep telling myself that right now as I'm trying to find reasons to love our new little town we moved to) but I'm happiest when it's sunny and warm. And I know I'd be perfectly content to have the beach within walking distance :) I'll keep dreamin'....
2. What is something that you learned from a parent or elder that has been valuable in your life? A hard work ethic. Everything in life takes work! School, job, savings, marriage, friendships, sports, appearance, happiness, etc. The moment you stop working for something is the moment that it all falls apart.

Be sure to check out these girls blogs, along with Janna's. I know you'll love them as much as I do! 

birthday recap

 had to post this because it's so bad, haha

baby Adalyn wants ice cream, too!

I was so spoiled this birthday and I felt so loved :)

I went to lunch with my friend, Jaicee! (And good grief woman, we never get a picture when we're together.)

I went to lunch with my friends from the neighborhood. 

My handsome hubs took me to dinner.

I got spoiled with gifts.

Eric made me the better than sex cake, and it was so GOOD! But I'm not sure it's better than... never mind! (Don't be disturbed by the size of my slice of cake. Like Eric said, I eat more than him! And sorry mom and dad Crowley and Brinkerhoff... I just couldn't resist haha!)

I received the best birthday wishes from you all!

How did I get SO lucky to have such amazing friends??

Anyway.. the month's not over yet sooo maybe I can get in a couple more birthday dinners, right? Maybe?.... I just don't want the love to end :)

P.S. I just thought I'd share a couple thought's about Eric's sweet post.
First- don't expect to have him write on this blog ever again. I'm so shocked he did my birthday post :)
Second- I'm pretty sure the man loves when I shave my legs because I only shave like once a week, if that. Haha, poor husband!
And last- don't let the man fool you. He has the best intentions when he says he loves that I get so excited about taking pictures of our lives.... but when it actually comes down to taking a picture together he cries, whines, and complains like a big baby.
I love my man :)

Happy Birthday Courtney

Happy Birthday, Courtney. I thought I'd share 24 reasons why I love you, to hold you over until I get to see you tonight.

1. You're my BEST friend.
2. I can tell you things I've never told anyone and you don't judge me.
3. I love your body (I'll get into details later...)
4. I love what a great homemaker you are.
5. I love what a great mom you're gonna be someday.
6. I love to watch you play at the lake.
7. I adore your smile.
8. You love me so much.
9. You wake up and make my lunch each morning.
10. I love how you dress up for me.
11. I love that you make me dinner almost every night.
12. I love how you look at me when you want something.
13.I love it when you tell me you're sorry for whatever it was you did.
14. I love that you can eat more than me.
15. I love how you keep me on my feet with all you're little ideas and plans.
16. I love how you're getting crafty.
17. I enjoy how we can get so involved into our shows.
18. I'm excited with how you get excited about our life, aka taking pictures of our life.
19. I love how you love ice cream so much now.
20. I love your work ethic. You work very hard!
21. I love your long hair. (Actually, I love your hair anyway you do it.)
22. I love it when you shave your legs.
23. I love snuggling with you cause your snuggly.
24. I admire how giving you are.
And a few more because you're the birthday girl and you deserve it....
25. I love how you always believe in me.
26. I love how you can talk with anyone.
27. I love how you're eyes tell me you love me.

I love you, baby. 24 is going to be a great year for you!

fear and faith

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Courtney on Pinterest

Even though I know this is SO true, it's still incredibly hard for me to accept sometimes. I feel like this move came at the worst possible time. School started over a week ago for Eric and it's his last semester, he'd only been young men's president for 6 months, we were locked into our lease until September, he had a secure job, I have been so busy with hair, etc. I can go on and on with all of these ridiculous excuses, but the biggest deal for me is that I'm happy living here. Sure I hate the snow, but there's snow where we are moving so I don't get to escape it. I LOVE my friends here! In fact, my friend's little boy was so upset when he realized we're moving the day of his basketball game so we won't even be able to go watch him play! How sweet is that? He melted my heart and made me cry at the same time :) Anyway, I've feared the unknown. I'm scared to start over! Why now? How is it all going to work out?

Source: Uploaded by user via Courtney on Pinterest

The Lord knows better than me, and He knows what is best for me. It is crazy how everything has fallen right in place to make this move possible. In the first week of making our decision to take the job offer, we found a place to rent (a town home with a 2 car garage and no loud upstairs neighbors, woo woo! I'll share pictures of our place once we're settled in), transferred schools for Eric (which was a total pain, but we figured it out), worked it out with my salon to work part time each week, instead of leaving Eric for a whole week (since we'll only be 40 minutes away), refinanced the truck and went from a 10.9 to a 2.9 interest rate (that really has nothing to do with the move, but we were getting screwed with the interest rate), and started packing. The second week we got our contract taken over (this was the biggest stress for me, paying double rent was NOT an appealing idea), worked out the rest of the details of our move, and packed. 
I am shocked at how smoothly everything has worked out. But we are truly blessed to have this amazing work opportunity for Eric. Even though it's a little scary, it's time I trust that the Lord is leading us down a path that will better our lives in ways I never could have imagined.

weekend review

- All you can eat pizza buffet with friends
- Packing
- Red Lobster with friends

Basically, we buried ourselves with packing this weekend, and the only time we came up for air was to go eat. We did make time to go to the Temple before we started packing, though. It was so great, and so very needed!
Side note: They sang Happy Birthday (yeah, we celebrated a couple days early. I like to milk as much attention as I can for my birthday :) haha) when my salad came. Hmm.... don't worry though. I still got my dessert, along with soup, coconut shrimp, and mashed potatoes! I kind of know how to pound my food. I won't even tell you how many slices of pizza I had at the buffet....
So Eric's off to his first day of work at the new job. Wish him luck :) I can't wait to join him in a couple days to celebrate my birthday! And since I'm stupid enough to tell the world wide web that my husband's gone, I'll be smart enough to tell it that he left me with the trusty hand gun for just in case....

vacation destination.... Hawaii?

Puerto Vallarta 2010

San Diego 2009

Cabo 2010

Since I just posted about a winter day, naturally I'd be posting about the beach :) It has been way too long since we've enjoyed the sunshine on a beach, and played in the salty waves. Luckily we have something to look forward to... We're going to HAWAII in May!! I can hardly wait :)
If you've been to Maui tell me what we MUST see. What activities should we NOT miss out on? Food/restaurants? Share the secrets with me, pretty please? :)

my kind of winter day

A beautiful sunny, warm day.
Sledding with family.
Hot chocolate, chili, and donuts galore. (I have a serious addiction to donuts!)
Gorgeous cabin with a gorgeous view.
More food and lots of snacks.
Games into the wee hours of the night.
Does a winter Saturday in the middle of January get any better than this? I think not!

date night

My man sure knows how to turn on the romance! Our Friday night was spent in a concealed weapons course. Yep, you read that right! Luckily, Eric signed us up when he knew some of our friends would be attending so the night wasn't boring like I'd expected it to be. Eric has a handgun that I can handle pretty well, but he wants me to get a smaller one that will be easy to have with me at all times. (I wouldn't say he's over protective or anything... haha.) So I've been looking and I'm having a hard time making a decision.

Do I pick this gun because it so me?

via

Or do I pick this gun (The silver strip will be black)? It's smaller and easier to conceal, but I don't know if I love it.

via
Or is this the gun I should go with? It's definitely more intimidating than the pink ones, right?

via

Decisions, decisions!

P.S. All you creepers in the world, WATCH OUT! We be packing heat..... haha :)

our 2011 in review

With life being so crazy lately I haven't had time to put this post together. Better late than never though, right?!

January

• I turned 23! 
• Went to Vegas with my salon girls.

Seriously, this is all I've got for ya. I don't remember a whole lot from January, and I wasn't really into blogging at the point. This is why I blog! So that I can remember the little details in our lives :)

February

• I started to struggle with serious skin issues. This is the first time I've ever had to battle myself, I didn't like me very much. 
• We road tripped to Park City. It was my first time hanging out in the town.
• I learned how to shoot with a bow and arrow. LOVED it.

March

• We went to St George and got to see my bestie be sealed to her late husband for eternity!
• I took the spinning instructor class. (I'm going to start teaching classes when we move, yay!)   

April

• Eric turned 25!
• I learned how to shoot a hand gun.
• My face started to heal, along with my attitude.

May

• We celebrated our 3 year anniversary!
• Went to a beautiful tulip festival with our family.
• Eric took me to my first ever baseball game.
• We visited in my grandparents in Colorado and explored Mesa Verde, and Arches National Park in Moab.

June

• It finally warmed up for us enough to enjoy the great outdoors!
• We hiked to a waterfall.
• Went swimming with family.
• Eric played baseball.
• I got more into blogging and started making amazing bloggy friends!

 Eric will kill me for this one.... but I love it ;)

July

• We took advantage of the amazing weather and spent as much time as we could outside. We explored the mountains, went boating, and swam as much as possible!
• We celebrated our country's freedom on the 4th of July.
• We went to Tuacahn and enjoyed a musical at their outdoor amplitheater.
• Eric's life became even busier when he was called as young men's president for our church. 

August

• Eric took me to my first ever drive in movie theater date!
• Eric's little brother got married and we got a new sister in law!
• We went to the county fair.
• We spent more time outdoors at baseball games and swimming.
• We started making tons of amazing friends in our neighborhood.

September

• Eric and I celebrated a fake anniversary weekend :) We spent a night in Salt Lake and the next day in Park City.
• Got to meet my bestie's new boyfriend. (Of course just when she moves up here, we're moving back down south.)
• We visited the UP house.
• I got crafty! 

October

• Ran my first race, a 10k!
• Celebrated Halloween festivities with friends.
• Spent a weekend with my parents hiking in Zion.
• Met bloggy friends in real life!
• Eric took me to my first ever hockey game, LOVED it.
• Went to my brother and sister in laws Halloween party.

November

• My sweet Grandad passed away at age 97. This was my first time experiencing death within the family :(
• We road tripped with Trevor and Alycia to Colorado a couple times. I think the boys got sick of me and Alycia gabbing their ears off ;)
• We went to more hockey games.
• Celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.
• I got crafty for Christmas.

December

• My little brother came home from his mission in Chile!
• We went to our first ever ugly sweater Christmas party.... but we didn't have ugly sweaters :)
• We looked at Christmas lights.
• My bestie and little bestie moved up here!
• We celebrated Christmas with Eric's family!
• We brought in the new year with games, food, just dance on the wii, and amazing friends/family.

2011 started out pretty slow for us, but it got more exciting as the year went on :) Overall it was a very easy going year with a lot of tiny firsts. We definitely had trials and overcame some obstacles, but I am so grateful for everything I learned in the year.
2012 has already been a shocker for us. I know some big changes are coming our way and to tell the truth? I'm just as nervous as I am excited to see what's in store for us! Obviously we're moving.... but I can also tell you that Eric will be finishing school AND we'll be spending a week on a beach. Can't wait to share what else we have planned this year :)