kate.elisabeth

2011-10-08T18:43:00.000-06:00

2011-10-01T15:32:00.000-06:00

Why yes, there is a Doctor in the house...

2011-06-21T12:12:00.000-06:00

2011-04-07T17:28:00.000-06:00

My website

2011-02-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal, I actually have a photo website, and I would like to share it with all of you. There is a blog there as well that I post what projects I am currently working on. I have been hiding for a while, not sure why, but I decided that it is time to share. Let me know what you think. Thanks team!

www.kateelisabethphotography.com

Speechless

2010-12-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post the most amazing surprise that I have ever received. For our anniversary we decided to not do gifts and just enjoy the day, well at least that is what I thought. Jonathan told me this so that he would have a bigger budget to do something for me. Very sneaky and very awesome. I am so lucky! He decided to do a Kate Spade themed anniversary. Are you kidding me?!?!? He got really good deals on everything, but I feel that he needs the credit for what he did...

Kate Spade Shoes

They are peep toe, orange and just wonderful. I heart them!

Beautiful PURPLE (my favorite color) bracelet. Love it.

Super fun glasses case with Audrey Hepburn eyes and a cleaning cloth.

3 words... Best. Husband. Ever.

That is all...

2010-12-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

6 Years...

2010-11-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...

2010-10-03T13:05:00.000-06:00

2010-07-15T16:29:00.000-06:00

2010-05-19T17:32:00.002-06:00

2010-04-27T21:53:00.000-06:00

2010-04-06T17:38:00.001-06:00

Good News!

2010-03-28T19:08:00.000-06:00

2010-03-07T12:38:00.002-07:00

2010-03-05T14:34:00.001-07:00

2010-01-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Back to School...

2010-01-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

2010-01-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

2010-01-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

2009-12-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

2009-12-11T22:06:00.001-07:00

I absolutely h e a r t the holidays!

From Thanksgiving to New Years Day, is my favorite time of year!

People are just generally excited and happy. I l o v e giving gifts and just spending time with friends and family. Jonathan and I made a really tough decision this year, we are staying in Iowa for C h r i s t m a s. With me not having a job and it being expensive to drive and Jonathan has a recital to get ready for in J a n u a r y. It was hard, but we know that it is the best. We are going to seriously miss spending the Holidays with family, but we do have some great friends that are also going to be around for C h r i s t m a s, so at least we won't be alone.

So Jonathan and I decided that we wanted to get going on some new traditions this year for our little family. We are going to buy a new ornament each year that symbolizes where we are and what we are doing. We are adopting my family's tradition of making Gyoza from scratch on C h r i s t m a s E v e. From Jonathan's family we are doing the marathon day of baking and taking awesome variety plates of deliciousness to people.

I also decided that we needed to get new stockings. Jonathan and I both have the ones that we had when we were kids and I thought that it was time for us to have matching ones. I never found anything that I really liked so I decided to make them.

They turned out so awesome! I didn't even use a pattern! They took me a while with all the stitching, but they were worth it! By making them too, when we have kids I can make them little ones that match. I am excited. Here are some pics. I know that pride is a sin, but I am super proud of them!

Soup

2009-10-22T14:02:00.004-06:00

My extremely talented friend in the ward has this amazing soup recipe, and since I have been raving about it to many, I decided that I should share the amazingness that it is. Props to Nicole and Heidi for this one. Mostly my Mom and Sister have asked about it and I want everyone to enjoy it!

Baked Potato Soup

2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
7 cups milk
4 Green onion, chopped
12 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 potatoes, cooked, peeled, and cubed
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
8 oz of Sour cream
3/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper

In a large pot, melt butter, stir in flour; heat and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; stir cheese until melted.

Tips: Don't skimp and use low fat or fat free anything, except for milk. I think I used 1%...and DON'T USE turkey bacon. It's just not the same.

2009-10-22T10:58:00.000-06:00

I am determined to not be that person that never updates their blog. Not too much has happened recently. I have been looking for jobs without much luck and the store closes in a week and a half. Yikes. Right after it closes I am going to Colorado for a week to spend some time with my parents. That will be a nice little break. I just really wish that Jonathan could come with, but he is busy with school. Something cool though, is that Jonathan played with the Temptations a couple weeks ago. They were out here and played for Homecoming. It was awesome. They played all of their classics and worked all their awesome dance moves. There is still one original member. I went with my neighbors across the hall Joe and Jessica. We had fun. We actually weaseled our way pretty close to the front. I guess it comes from all those years of riding the trains in Japan and my mom sending me in through the crowds of people to get a seat. Good times. At least that skill has now come in handy. Here is a pic from the show.

Let's see...

Jonathan's birthday was yesterday. He turned 29! He wasn't feeling very well as he has an ear infection, a sinus infection, bronchitis, and possibly walking pneumonia. Poor guy. We just mostly hung aound the house since it was my day off. I got him the most awesome gift ever! He has wanted one for a while and I finally found a place to get one. It is an industrial real street sign that says "Slide Area"

I was excited about it.

Welp, I am lacking for witty stories. Check back at a later time and hopefully I will be employed soon!

-Kate

Boo

2009-09-28T22:49:00.000-06:00

Welp... I have now learned not to ask "What could happen next?" when bad things are happening because well... things just keep happening. I went into work this morning and the owner called me around noon to inform me that she san longer keep our store open. She is closing my location. She has 2 other locations that she is keeping open closer to where she lives. As she is telling me all this I am thinking that it will probably be sometime around the end of the year. Nope, October 31st is the last day the store will be open. I am so shocked. I have worked there for over 2 years and have been the manager for a year. Now I have to find a new job. I have no idea what I am going to do. I have definitely learned to not ask that question, or you will get an answer that you don't really want. All I really have to say about it is that with all the bad things that have been going on, there will hopefully be something good coming...right?

2009-09-27T23:05:00.001-06:00

Two blogs in the same month! That's an improvement.

It has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks. Jonathan and I have been busy, then you throw in a last minute trip to Utah for a funeral and a concert and things can seem crazier than they are. My Grandfather passed away a couple weeks ago and thanks to my totally awesome brother in law, I was able to fly on buddy passes to Salt Lake so that I could go to the funeral. Poor Jonathan did have to drive me to Chicago so that I could fly out with Kim and the kids, but I was able to fly home through Cedar Rapids, which is only about 20 minutes from the house. Minus the fact that we were there for a funeral, it was still really nice to spend time with family and maybe have some Cafe Rio... So this was last weekend and this past weekend Jonathan and I went to Des Moines for the Dave Matthews concert!!! It was my birthday present and just as amazing as I hoped. We stayed in the really neat hotel that happened to be only a 15 minute walk to the venue, so it was nice to be able to walk and not have to worry about parking. This is my 3rd time seeing Dave and it never gets old and they are always amazing. I think that he is the one famous person that I would really LOVE to meet. It was extra cool because Tim Reynolds was there and he just rocks it! I think my dream one day is to have front row seats. It is the one thing I really want. (That was for you Jess) Anyway, here are some pics from the concert and my weekend in Salt Lake.

This was right after the funeral. The had to jump the hearse!!! I just missed the money shot! Only at Grandpa's funeral would we have to jump the hearse. It was kinda funny.

We stopped at the Gateway briefly and Blythe had to carry the bag. She really is my kinda girl! Loves to shop!

She also had fun in my heels. A girl has to own a pair of red heels.

She also had to carry around both of her bags at the same time. So much like her Aunt Kate. Sorry Kim! Good luck with that, I hope that she isn't too much like me!

This was before it started. We had decent seats. Obviously the ground seats were closer, but it wasn't worth it to me to have to get there 5 hours early to get in line, so that I could be in the front. Plus having no option to sit. We opted for the seats instead.

I think that the opening band was about to go on here...

Waiting for Dave to come on... No I am not patient!

And there they are...is this heaven? No, this is Iowa!!!!! But it sure felt close.

Wow...shameful...

2009-09-03T23:27:00.005-06:00

So I am officially one of those people that I hate that never updates their blog. Sorry for the few of you that actually check my blog. I can't seem to sleep tonight, so I thought that I should make good use of my time and post.
This has been a crazy summer to say the least.
-Jonathan taught for 2 weeks at a summer camp
-Went to a Single A baseball game
-Went to Chicago
-Turned 25!
-Went to Des Moines for awesome cheesecake and birthday shopping!
-Went to Nauvoo (went to the temple and the pageant)
-My parents came to visit
-Jonathan's grandfather passed away and he went to the funeral
-Lots of BBQs
-Good Iowa corn
-Lots of swimming
-Lots of work :(
-Played lots of Guitar Hero
-Chopped my hair off

That was our summer in a nut shell. I'm kinda glad that it is over and that Jonathan is starting his last year of school. Crazy. Also that the weather will start getting colder. I really want to start wearing my sweaters and coats!
Here are some pictures from Nauvoo and an epic-ly awesome girls night rock band party!

My Mom and I with our toes in the Mississippi

Dad, Jonathan, and I in Nauvoo at the Mississippi

The Beautiful Nauvoo Temple taken from the Trail of Hope

Jonathan and I outside the Temple

Mom and Dad outside the temple.

I figure that since my Mom and Dad NEVER update their blog that I could post these pictures for them, so you can somewhat know what they have going on. Love you Mom and Dad!!!

We also had a wicked awesome girls night complete with Rock Band, girl talk, and carmel popcorn! Here are some pics...

Jessica and Crystal rocking it out on the guitar and bass

Angela killing the drums!

Tawnya doing the chicken dance whilst singing

Brittany rocking out to the "Eye of the Tiger"

These girls were all rockstars! Great night!

So I really do hope to be more current with my blog...and now since it is almost 1:00 and I have to work tomorrow/today, I really should get some sleep!

Flood of '08 Revisited

2009-06-09T09:08:00.011-06:00

It is crazy to think that this week marks the anniversary of the flood. We are all just praying that it won't happen again this year. A couple of small towns near the river have flooded some, but thankfully we didn't get enough rain to cause the river to rise here. Here are some pictures in memory of last year. It is weird to think that it all happened, but it did. It is sad to drive down the main strip through town and see that so many business never opened back up from the flood.

The view at the top of our street.

Our apartment mid-flood.

The view of the main road through town.

Jonathan's precious music building. They had to have classes all over the city last year. It was rough.

Where we lived last summer. Rough.

This is about a block away from where I work.

THis is a bad picture, but this is our old street now. They have demolished half of the buildings and it doesn't look like they are planning on rebuilding any time soon. Glad we moved.

Needless to say, I am glad that it is over and that we now live on higher ground, so if it does flood again, we will be safe. Now, lets just hope there are no tornados this year!

The Wedding

2009-06-09T08:54:00.005-06:00

Sorry that is has been so long! A lot has happened. We went to Las Vegas for Nick and Margaret's wedding and had a lot of fun! The wedding was really nice and we had a blast hanging out with family. Here are just a couple pictures from the event.

The whole family

The girls having fun.

The guys being boys!

It was a fun trip. I am really getting to the point, where I am tired of saying goodbye to family and knowing the next time I am going to see them is far away. Its time to live closer!

Fun Fun.

2009-05-04T12:09:00.003-06:00

I am determined to post more often! Not too much in news lately. Jonathan and I are off to Las Vegas on Thursday for Nick's wedding. It will be a fun weekend! Work is finally slowing down! Ya Hoo! Very excited about that. The weather is getting warmer. Life is good. So the past few weeks the girls from work and I have been going to Karaoke night and this local place. Tons of funs. Here are some pictures of our most recent adventures.

um... yeah

Amanda and I

Me, Amanda and Allison

Fishy face with Al!

Good times. For anyone in the area Karaoke is Thursday night in North Liberty! Come one and all!!!

2009-04-24T18:45:00.006-06:00

Hey All.

Been a while. Been busy. Jonathan had his recital this past week. His parents and 3 of 6 siblings were here. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them and just chill. It was also my first Saturday off since Christmas. Much welcomed! It is always sad when family leaves, but this time wasn't so bad because we were able to say "see you in a few weeks" as we will all be in Vegas in 2 weeks for Nick's wedding. It will be fun to hang with everyone! Welp, the real reason that everyone reads blogs is for the pictures, so here are some pictures of recent Allen's goings on.

I was leaving the mall and the "Red Hat" club was in front of me. It was kinda sad because the lady with the walker got stuck in the sliding door, it closed as she wasn't fast enough to get past it. So I had to take a picture. They were cute old ladies.

We went to a Rough Riders hockey game in Cedar Rapids and they were selling these horns. OF COURSE Jonathan had to have one I mean come on! It was awesome!

Being the prefectionist that he is, Jonathan is shaping the mouthpiece so he can get a better sound. It was a 5 dollar horn!

And yes, this is him tuning the horn. He has a tuning app on his phone. I love my tromboneing husband!

There is an Oregon Trail app for iphone. You can now get attacked by a bear!! It is nasty looking too! Kinda funny though.

Seriously?!?!?!?

2009-03-15T10:26:00.002-06:00

I am completely speechless. All I can manage to say is SERIOUSLY!? Needless to say, here is why...

So I went to work on Saturday thinking that it was going to be your average long, busy day. Well, it was that and so much more. SO they day went fine and then about 10 minutes to closing a rush of people decided that they wanted help. I was working with a couple on an invitation order, Amanda was helping a couple girls gets bridesmaid dresses ordered, LeAnn was vacuuming and Julie had greeted these 2 prom girls that had walked in. We were all in a hurry and just wanted to get home. After the craziness subsided and everyone left, we were all noticing that the store smelled a little funny. Thinking that someone was just a little funky, we shrugged it off. It continued to get worse and we thought maybe it was the prom girls. So a couple of the girls went back to the room that they were in to see if the smell was there. Welp, sure enough there is was. Poo. Diarrhea on the floor, the curtain, the pillow, and the cushion on the bench!!!! Apparently just because you are old enough to shop for a prom dress by yourself, does not mean that you are old enough to know when to go to the bathroom. I mean COME ON!!!! Who does that? So Jonathan went to the store and bought gloves and carpet cleaner and I then had to proceed to clean it up. Yuck. Not how I pictured spending my day. I think I used almost a whole bottle of Febreeze to try and get rid of the smell. We then bagged up all the poo-infested stuff and took it to the dry-cleaners.

There is just no way that happened. Also, if one more person tells to wait until I have kids because I will be cleaning up poo all the time, I will freak. This is SO not on the same level as cleaning up your own child's poo. This is not in my job description. So enough ranting. All I have left to say is to the girl that poo'd in the room and well at least we know that "you can really work it out" Thank you Wesley WIllis for that marvelous quote. Who is Wesley Willis you ask... Here is a little clip to introduce you if you don't know him.

I Love Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T21:25:00.004-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! I love this Holiday. Even when I was single I loved it. Jonathan was super sweet and sent flowers to work on Friday. Tulips. My all time favorite! Then I came home on Saturday from work to a nice home ooked meal, that we don't do often enough and the most amazing chocolate cake ever! I am calling it my better than anything and everything cake! Loved it! Now we are watching Be My Valentine Charlie Brown. So Fun. Here are a couple pictures of my way pretty flowers. Also notice the super cute vase he bought for them. I have the best husband ever! Happy Hearts Day All!

Late Christmas Post...

2009-01-15T21:58:00.005-07:00

Over due on a new post. Surprise surprise. Jonathan and I had a killer time in Colorado for Christmas, minus that fact that a grand majority of the time was spent trying to help whoever had the flu bug at that particular point. We stayed in a cabin in Woodland park, and by cabin I mean a large house that is in the mountains. At least on person was sick each day. Sad. I was the only one who didn't end up sick. Not quite sure how that happened. Poor Jonathan got sick our last day there and so we left to come home a day later. Yea for me for getting an extra to spend with my parents, and Kim and Chris and the kids, but sad for Jonathan. We stayed at the cabin Sunday-Friday and then crashed at my parents house until we left on Monday. It was so fun to get to see and spend time with everyone. Jonathan and I really are enjoying Iowa, but being in Colorado and spending time with family, made us really wanting to be closer and see family more often. We have a year and a half left, and then who knows? We want to go out west. I will tell you one thing, I don't think that I can handle one more winter here than is absolutely neccesary. It is frigid here. Tonight the low is -36. Yikes. When you have to close the schools just becasue of cold, that is a bad bad sign. Anyway, back to Christmas, Jonathan's parents were extremely generous in their gifting...When I was making my list this year I was putting a bunch of stuff just for the heck of it, totally not expecting to get most of them...I was wrong in that assumption. They got me my Kate Spade flatware! I was shaking when I unwrapped it, once I new what it was, and then was in super shock when I opened the second place setting. So amazing!!!!! Here is a picture! They are super cute!

Before...

After...

My parents also got us a kick butt food processor. We are having a fun time figuring out things to use it for. If anyone has any suggestions or recipes let me know! The presents were wonderful, but the best part was being able to see family and just be around each other, even if everyone was sick at some point. We wanted to split up the cooking for the week being that there were 12 adults and 2 kids, so we decided to do a cook-off. Each couple was a team and then the singles were a team. Jonathan and I made Gyoza. It was awesome and I am so glad that we learned how to cook it. Everyone made really delicious food, but the single team brought the heat and smoked everyone! Who can compete with game hens for everyone, with that many people, appetizers, 3 side dishes, homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches covered in magic shell, AND a freaking murder mystery dinner?!? No one could and so therefore, they took home the Allen Goblet of Awesomeness, and rightfully so. No need to fear though, we fully intend to bring our A game next time...mwah ha!!

Here are some pictures from the cabin. All the rooms had a theme. Jonathan and I stayed in the tent room. That's right our beds were inside a tent on the floor. It was pretty much awesome!

The Cabin

Our Killer tent room!

The view to downstairs.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-12T11:15:00.005-07:00

Jonathan wanted me to post this weeks ago, but I just never got around to it. We put our tree and other Christmas decorations up the week before Thanksgiving! I was just too excited. We went to go buy a new tree this year, because our old one got a little bit wet in the flood this summer. I didn't want to wait to put it up. So we watched ELF and put our stuff up! So fun! I love the Holidays, it is my favorite time of year! I also finished all my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving as to avoid the masses of shoppers. So not only has our tree been up for a while, but it has presents under it! So Fun! I found these gold and red holly berries at Hobby Lobby this year and bought a bunch to put on our tree. They are probably my favorite part of the tree beside our 2 trombone ornaments and our starfish on the top! Also, check out the snowman! I totally made it all by myself! I made it at a relief society activity. I nailed and painted it all by myself. I am so not crafty, so I was really proud of myself! Jonathan and I are also was stoked for Colorado in a week! It is going to be a blast! Also, I am really excited to have a little over a week off work! About time! Anyway, here are some pictures of our tree and other such decorations.

Chicago

2008-11-17T20:59:00.005-07:00

I know it has been a while, so here is a funny story for you. So, as of right now my only days off are Sunday, because we are short staffed and it is slow season, so there isn't a lot of traffic in the store. I was finally able to take a Saturday off. My first real day off in like 2 months. I wasn't planning on doing much until my friend Kim asked me to go Chicago with her. She had a class that she needed to take and she knew that my sister Kim lived there and thought that I would want to go. So sweet of her to think of me. I thought that it would be super fun. I called Kim(sister) and told her about the trip and of course it was a weekend that she wasn't going to be there! Figures. I still wanted to hang out with Kim(friend) and Kim(sister) said that we could stay at her place anyway. Fun. I was packing to leave when I realized that i forgot to call her on Friday and remind her that we were coming and to leave the house unlocked. So I called her Saturday just before we left, and she said that the house was locked, but that the back door was easy to card. No big deal. Kim(friend) and I left Saturday afternoon and headed to Chicago. We stopped at a super huge outlet mall that has all these super ritzy stores like Coach and Gucci and of COURSE we had to go into the Kate Spade outlet! Wow. That is all I can say. Loved it! Too bad I can't afford anything in there right now. One day. Sigh. So after that Kim(friend) really wanted to go to the Nordstoms Rack just a little ways away. I was totally game being that I hadn't been to one since we lived in Salt Lake. I forgot about all the great stuff they have there, especially their shoe section! I found 2 pairs of super cute shoes for 20 bucks total after tax! I know, your jealous, that okay though, I would be too. Just kidding. So at this point we were both starved and found a pizza place called Giordanos. It was awesome! They have these stuffed crust pizzas that the crust seriously is like 5 inches tall. Kim(friend) and I got the thin crust. They looked crazy good, but there was just no way! After having driven 4 hours, shopped and eaten, we were ready for bed, so off we headed for Kim's(sister) house. Well to make a long story short we tried for about 45 minutes to card the door to no avail. We tried knocking on a couple different neighbors houses for help, but no one answered. Sad. I'm sure we were quite a site to see. Well, thankfully I have an amazingly generous father who used some of his Mariott Points to get us a hotel room for the night. When we finally got to the hotel, it was about 2 hours later that we had wanted to get to bed. What a night. Well, the next day proved to be tricky. Kim's(friend) class was from 9-6, I was planning on just hanging out at Kim's(sister) house until she was done, not now, obviously. Checkout at the Hotel was at noon and it was a Sunday. What was I going to do? Sit in the lobby all day? Thankfully my knight and shining armor Jonathan, drove to Chicago and picked me up that afternoon. The sad thing is though, is that Kim(friend) had to drive home by herself! I felt so bad! What a weekend. Next time I take a day off I am staying in bed!!! Just kidding, it was a lot of fun to hang out with Kim(friend) and now we have this killer story to share! So seriously this is a lot longer that I thought it would be. If you have finished this novel then congrats and thank you for not bailing out mid story!!! Here is a picture of us in the hotel after a long day...it was taken with my phone. Not the best picture ever...

2008-10-21T10:07:00.001-06:00

Just a quick shout-out to my awesome husband!!! Happy Happy Birthday!

2008-10-19T16:01:00.004-06:00

So, I figured that if I changed my template that I would get in trouble that I didn't actually post anything. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get away with that one... Sadly enough, though I don't have anything really very interesting to talk about. Jonathan and I have been super busy with work and school. I officially taken over as the Manager and because we lost Katy, the only other full time employee, I am now working about 45 hours a week. Kinda sucks. Right now my only days off are Sunday. I really shouldn't complain though, because I do get overtime pay and my raise was a hefty one. I just know that I desperately need to get someone hired for busy season or life will really suck. I wish that I had some fun pictures to post, but alas, I just haven't gotten around to it. I do have some from my really good friend Katy's wedding a couple weeks ago. We had a blast and she, of course, looked beautiful! Here are some fun little tidbits...

This is me and my buddy Allison. We work together and were both Katy's personal attendants. This is just before the reception.

This is me with my friend Monica and the beautiful bride!

This is quite a few of the wedding party and some other randoms. I wish that you could see how beautiful the wedding was!

Had to throw this one in. Jonathan and I with our ribbon mustaches. It was a great night!!!

2008-09-04T21:01:00.003-06:00

Okay, seriously I know that I need to be way more consistent in my blogging. A lot has happened since my last post. Jonathan and I moved into our new apartment, went to Colorado, Jonathan started school, and I got offered the Manager position at work. Crazy. So, we love our new apartment and the community we live it. We have a great couple that is in our ward that live across the hall from us. Also, there is also a lot of other families from our ward that live close which is a really nice change. It is nice to see a lot of them more than just on Sunday. A week after we moved in we went to Colorado the visit my Mom and Dad. We had a great time. We were able to hang out with Chris and Ixchelle and meet our cute new nephew Shaden, So fun! Mom and Dad were generous enough to take us to a Colorado Rockies game!! We had such a blast. It was my first professional sporting event. They were playing the Arizona diamondbacks, so we got to see Randy Johnson. He is huge!!! So freaking tall! What made the night really memorable was late in the game when it started to rain these huge rain drops and then the rain turned in to slush. Only in Colorado in August. We came back home and started to get more settled. Jonathan got started with school and is super busy, as the school of music won't be open theis year due to all the flooding, the have classes all over the city. Makes for long crazy days. Too make things more crazy, I will be taking over as the Manager of the store in about 3 weeks. Jonathan and I right now are trying to talk the owner into selling us her store. We right now are waiting to get a number from her. So hopefully we will be store owners by the end of the year. Lets all keep our fingers crossed. So, that is a quick update of what has been going down here in Iowa. Here are some pictures of the new place and and of some of our summer fun.

If you couldn't tell, this is Jonathan and I at Garden of the Gods. We weren't able to stay too long. The altitude got to us faster then we thought.

This is us outside of Coors Field. I bought a new hat for the occasion. Sadly enough, I have such a small head I had to buy a childrens hat...

Here is our living room. Notice behind Jonathan is our new fireplace! Wahoo!! It was a selling point for me, Also, you can see that the bookshelf made it! Hallelujah!

Here is our messy kitchen, but it is bigger!

So there is the short tour of our new place, I guess if you want to see the rest that you will just have to come and visit! We are always open for guests!!!! Please come visit! We live only 2 hours away from Nauvoo!!

Only one more week!

2008-07-24T20:40:00.003-06:00

So we only have one more week in Oxford! Hallelujah! I can't even begin to express how excited I am. I haven't even slept in a bed for 6 weeks. Dumb. We are now trying to figure out what we need that we lost in the flood to make life livable. Yea for moving! I will post pictures of the new digs next week once we get all moved in. On a different note, as most of you know I am doing Weight Watchers and I am proud (but not unrighteously proud) that I have lost 12 pounds! I only have 6 more to go for my 1st goal! Sweet. Jonathan said that I get 50 dollars to spend when I reach it! I think I will making a stop at the gap... So after all of the madness this summer, I was looking through my iphoto and remembering some more positive carefree times. I found this picture of Jonathan and I the day after we got engaged. We went to the Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque. Crazy to think that it was 4 years ago that we got engaged. How time flies...

Well, like I said, next week will be a much better blog with pictures of the new digs!!!! Wahoo!

2008-07-18T20:26:00.004-06:00

So I am doing a little bit of bragging today. My really good friend is getting married in September and I am one of her personal attendants. A couple of her bridesmaids were planning to throw her a bridal shower, but they really didn't want to do things how she wanted, (which would have been easy) so she told them, Thanks but no thanks. She decided that she would just do it herself. Isn't that the dumbest thing you have ever heard!! No bride, especially a super nice one, should have to throw her own bridal shower. So I stepped up to the plate. She really wanted it to be coed since her fiancee is going to be in town that weekend (he lives in Albuquerque). We decided to do a fun BBQ. Anyway, on to the bragging, we looked everywhere for invitations and just weren't finding any that we liked, so I decided to make them. They turned out so cute! I am not one to brag, mostly because I am not this proud of the stuff that I do, but LOVED these invitations. Maybe I have discovered my new hidden talent....new business venture perhaps? Well, here they are. If you don't love them as much as I do, then just lie to me and tell me you do! Thanks!

P.S. if you click on the picture, you can see it larger and they look even better!

2008-07-08T19:45:00.003-06:00

Well I guess that it is about time for an update. After the flood, things were a little crazy for a while. Still are actually. Our apartment ended up with about 2 feet of water in it. So, needless to say, we did lose stuff. We were able to get back in to the apartment about a week later. It was a pretty horrific smell. Not recommended. We decided that we were definitely not going to move back into the same place, so we started looking for a new place. We found something a little further out of town, but nice and no where near any body of water. I mean, we were flooded by a creek!!! No water please. We move in August 1st. As for now, we are staying in a friends apartment out in the middle of nowhere. They are gone for the summer and graciously offered to let us stay there. It is about 20 miles out of town and there is nothing here. I never thought that I would live anywhere where I would have to say "lets go into town" So hick-ish. I really shouldn't complain because it is free, but it is rough. There is almost no cell phone service and they have a double bed! We are used to a king, so we are actually sleeping on out air mattress in the living room. Note that the air mattress takes up the entire living room. It touches the couch and the other wall. I am so ready to be living in my own place. Not to mention that on Saturday night they had a town dance right outside our building, on our window side of course. It went from 9 until midnight. I was so irritated. We have early church and I am not a morning person as it is, so I really need my sleep. Stupid town of Oxford.

We are very thankful for a lot of good people out here. We have the stuff that we were able to save at about 5 different peoples' houses, which ought to make moving day fun. At least the stuff is already in boxes though! Long story short, this summer really blows and look forward to it being over. Here are some random pictures of goings on here.

This is notice saying that we can go back into our building as long as we don't have to wade through flood waters to get there. There were many people arrested for going into the flood waters. Gross.

This is a crack in the foundation in our guest bedroom. We found it after they took the carpet out. Also, they aren't fixing it. Glad we are moving.

Here is a picture of some of our wreckage. Fun huh?

Here is our washer. You can see the water line. Crazy stuff...

The Wise Man built his house far away from the river....

2008-06-13T20:02:00.003-06:00

So, little update, as most of you know we are flooding and we officially evacuated from out house yesterday. We went and packed up all of our valuables and took them with us and then just piled the rest of our stuff up high as far as we could. We have no idea when we will be able to get back in and try and salvage the rest of our stuff. Last night the water was close, but we thought that we would still be able to get back in this morning, to no avail. Our apartment was already flooding and there was no way to get in. Here are some pictures of the whole fiasco...

This is the front of our building tonight. Our apartment is the one in the back right. As you can see the water has invaded the entire front on the building and parking lot.

This is our back yard. We are the last apartment on the end...the most flooded one...

This is a few from the top of our street taken tonight. The river is supposed to go up another 5 feet...yuck

This is us just before we left the apartment. As you can see we have our bed, bookshelf, and other valuables on top of our dining table...note the sad faces. This really sucks...

Our friend was helping us move everything, here is a picture of his tetris genius at work...

More on the Flood

2008-06-10T19:48:00.004-06:00

Here is an update to our flood. This picture is a view from our apartment parking lot into the street. Send brain waves our way...just make sure they are real waves! It is pretty crazy here...

Our little Flood

2008-06-08T16:02:00.005-06:00

So here in our little Eastern Iowa town, we have had what is known as a little flood. There is a park just a few miles from our house where the whole thing is under water. It is right on the edge of the river. There are park benches and BBQ's that are completely covered in water. It is nuts. They are comparing this to the big flood of '93. I guess that was a pretty bad flood. Right now they are saying that the river is about 7 feet above normal and is expected to rise another foot. Luckily I don't think that we have anything to worry about. The river about a half mile from our house is flooding too. It is pretty crazy. They have had to close a few streets because there is so much water overflowing from the river onto the streets. Here are some pictures from the river by our house.

So let's see...These trees are not supposed to be under water...

There is not supposed to be water to the left of these trees... The trees are supposed to be where the water stops... Not so much...

See those trees all the way in the back?? That is where the water is supposed to stop... So pretty much there shouldn't be water in this picture really.

My Trip to Chi-Town

2008-05-28T21:44:00.004-06:00

Okay, I know that it has been FOREVER since I have posted a new blog and am begging for forgiveness. I know the best part of blogs are the pictures and I honestly haven't taken any, thus the lack of blogging. No excuses though. A little update though. Right now Jonathan is in Utah at the International Trombone Festival, and I am just hanging out. We bought Jonathan a ticket out of Chicago because it was so much cheaper. So I drove him to Chicago and spent a few days with Kim and Chris. It was a nice break and it is always fun to hang out with family. I was really excited though, because I got to make a trip with Kim to Ikea and buy the bookshelves that I have wanted for a while. They barely fit in my car, but I was able to make the drive with them home. I wanted them to be a surprise for Jonathan so I had to put them together, of course. I got all but the last piece on pretty easy, and the last piece just wouldn't go on. It wasn't lining up. I was getting so frustrated. Needless to say I had quite the meltdown. I had been trying for an hour to get the top on and it just wouldn't go! So, I called Jonathan in tears for numerous reasons; I couldn't get the top on, I made a dent in the top in all of my hammering, and then I called Jonathan for support which no longer made it a surprise. Rough night. I did end up getting it all put together and I love it! It worked itself out. Here are some pictures of the finished project.
P.S. Another perk of having Jonathan fly out of Chicago, is that I get to go back and see Kim and Chris again! Double Trip!!

Prom Season

2008-03-30T18:54:00.003-06:00

I officially hate prom season and can't wait for it to be over. I have had enough of the whiney prom girls that think their prom is going to be the most important day of their lives and the moms that want to barter with 500 dollar dresses!!! We are not Mexico, we don't barter! Not to mention that least week was Spring Break out here and a lot of employees were gone so I worked 9 days straight had a day off and then worked 8 days straight. Yuck! At least the paycheck will be be nice. Also, I am not sure when prom dresses became so scandalous. The worst part of it is the moms that are encouraging their daughters to dress like this, and telling me that they want to order a smaller size because their daughter is going to lose weight. Pressure much? Why are these moms teaching their daughters at such a young age that you need to be skinny to succeed. Enough of my ranting though. I though that I would share some pictures of some popular styles this year and you can get a glimpse into my little prom world.

First we have some serious slits...

Then on to the open backs...

and then the open sides that go down way too far...

This one was our best seller this year...not as bad as the rest

All in all, I have to say Yikes!!! I did get a break from it all by going to Chicago to help Kim and Chris move in. It was a nice break from work and a lot of fun to see them.

The River

2008-03-30T18:27:00.005-06:00

Last week Jonathan and I decided to go for a walk, since it was finally warm enough to be outside longer than two seconds. We are just a couple blocks away from the river and really enjoy walking over there. Since we have had such a crazy winter, there were these huge ice chunks floating around. They were really awesome. There is a mini little water fall, so we were watching the ice chunks get destroyed. Not a very exciting story, but we had fun and it was nice to get out for a bit. Here are some pics from the walk.

Tagged

2008-03-04T20:59:00.014-07:00

So I know that I am way behind the curve on this one, but I still thought that it would be fun. I have actually had the images for this blog on my desktop for a week or two and am just finally getting to it and Cory tagged me like 3 weeks ago. Lazy much...I think so.

Age you will be on your next birthday

24

A place you would like to visit

Disneyworld!!!

One of your favorite places

Wonderful Colorado

Your favorite object

My real Kate Spade

and my bed...

Favorite Food

Chocolate!

Favorite Color

Green

Favorite Animal

Panda

Name of past pet

Claiborne

Where you live

Coralville, Iowa

Middle Name

Elizabeth

College Major

Undecided

A bad habit you have

Staring

Favorite Holiday

4th of July

Hopefully I will get a real blog out soon, but knowing me I wouldn't hold your breath!!

Shocking I know...

2008-01-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Surprise, surprise, surprise!!! New post! Shocker I know. Just thought that I would give a little update since it has been so long. Jonathan and I were able to make it home to Colorado for Thanksgiving and Christmas, what a treat! We haven't been able to spend Thanksgiving with family since we have been married. It was fun to be able to see everyone and just spend time with family. Now unfortunately we are back to reality. I started school and this will be my last semester through Utah, thank goodness! Jonathan also started school and so things are definitely back in full swing. It is also Prom season, so work is interesting to say the very least. Things are going well, minus the way below freezing temperatures, and Jonathan and I really do enjoy being in Iowa. A couple weeks ago we decided to go out and explore a little bit of Iowa that we haven't seen yet. So, we ventured to Riverside Iowa which is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. This is where they hold Star Trek conventions every year on his birthday. It was a really small town though, so I'm not quite sure how there is room for a whole convention. Not too far from Riverside is Kalona, which is a Amish community. It was kinda wild. As we were driving towards Kalona you could see all these horse and buggy tracks off the highway and then we saw a horse and buggy off the highway. It was crazy! Then we saw they kids that all go to school together, in what looked like a one room school house, outside playing in the rain during recess. It was so cool to see. We then passed the cheese factory and we had to stop. We bought some delicious cheese and then made our way back home. It was a fun little excursion. Well, hopefully this is a start or some more regular blogging...

Us at Thanksgiving

Jonathan at the Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk

Amish horse and buggy!

Kalona Cheese Factory

Chicago

2007-11-01T18:50:00.000-06:00

So, time for a new post. For Jonathan's birthday we went to Chicago to see the Symphony play the Mahler 6 Symphony. Since Mahler is Jonathan's favorite composer and the Chicago Symphony one of his favorite orchestras, it was perfect. So Friday we afternoon we drove out, it took about 4 hours, parked at a parking garage that was way too expensive, and then walked around Chicago. What a fun City! We walked around downtown, then walked around Lake Michigan and walked over to the Navy Pier for
dinner. We then took a cab back to the Orchestra hall, and listened to the pre-concert lecture. The concert was amazing and our seats were right above and behind the trombones, so Jonathan got a good view. It was really exciting. Here are some pictures. There is one of Lake Michigan, with all the boats and then a picture of orchestra hall.

2007-10-14T18:25:00.000-06:00

So, Jonathan and I were a little slap happy and childish the other day and made a fort of blankets on our bed. We started by running and jumping on the bed before we discovered doing summersaults on top of the bed and falling on the other side onto a bunch of couch cushions. Anywho...here are some blurry unattractive pictures of our little extravaganza.

Here is the fort a.k.a a huge pile of blankets and pillows

Here I am, about ready to go...

On my way...

Blurry, but there I am sitting on the floor after flinging myself across the bed....Awesome.

So that is some fun that we have been up to lately...crazy, but we have decided that we aren't quite ready to grow up!

Rough Video

2007-10-12T19:23:00.000-06:00

So, not much new going on. However, Jonathan found this video, and we were laughing hysterically for about an hour, it seemed like, well maybe not... Enjoy!!

D.C.

2007-09-25T22:54:00.000-06:00

So I recently took a trip and visited my sister in our wonderful Nation's capital. Jonathan and I found this really great deal on a plane ticket, so he was kind enough to let me go for a week. I really can't believe how much my nephews have grown! Pretty crazy. We had a good time and it was really fun to hang out. While there though I did get to see some fun stuff...

Zara!! Coolest store ever. I found Jonathan a great tie here.

I also got to watch Spencer play soccer...so fun!

We went to the National Zoo and I got to see the Pandas!!! There were the Giant Pandas and the Red Pandas. So cute! I really wanted to take one home with me.

While driving downtown, Kim made me take a picture of this license plate. We thought it was pretty funny.

And then here are just some cute pictures of the boys.

Grant in the tub with a rock...

Grant just being cute...

Max splashing himself in the fountain by the White House.

I know this is random, but this duck was crazy. They were bobbing for something. Anyway, I thought it was cool.

Anyway, those were some of the highlights of my trip, not to mention getting Kim and Chris hooked on Heroes and Chocolate Rain, pedicures, awesome brownies, and dying Kim's hair. I just wish that getting back was as fun and easy as being there, but I think we will save that story for another post.

2007-09-19T18:22:00.001-06:00

Yet another blog in the airport. I am on my way back to Iowa and am stuck in Chicago. Not completely stuck though, just held hostage for 5 hours. My flight was cancelled and the next available flight isn't until 9:30. Boo. I was supposed to be flying into Quad Cities at 3:30... now I fly in at 10:15. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. They never even said why the flight was cancelled. All I have to say is that I am tired of airports having Coke and no Pepsi, and McDonalds and no Burger King. That would at least make things a little less crappy. Oh Well. Hopefully my flight is on time and I can finally get home. Once again, boo for airports today.

2007-09-13T04:32:00.001-06:00

So I have some time to kill, be it that it is 5:30 am and I am waiting for my 6:00 am flight to leave. So early...I am trying to remember why I though that it was a good idea to leave this early. Oh well. Poor Jonathan was up until almost 1 am working on his crazy hard homework, so he barely got any sleep last night. Sad. All is well though. I get to visit Kim and stay there for a week. I'm way excited. I have never been to D.C. Should be an adventure. Let you know how it goes!!

2007-08-12T18:14:00.000-06:00

I don't know how anyone else feels, but I think that I am done with summer. It is just too hot and muggy. I am ready for winter, or at least fall. Not to mention that there is a new Sonic across the street from us that isn't open for about another month so it sits there and taunts me with with thoughts of a wonderful ice cold cherry limeaide and I can't have one. Why does it have to open when the heat isn't going to be so bad? Not cool. I could really go for a one... Also, the sign out front says that they are hiring 102 people. Why in the world would a sonic need to hire 102 people? I know that it is open for 24 hours, but still... they don't even have a place to eat inside, just a drive though window and carhops. Weird. Anywho, life goes on and hopefully I will be able to enjoy a nice cherry limeaide in the fall.

I'm bored.

2007-07-03T08:34:00.000-06:00

So when I had quit my jobs and started to re-evaluate my life and my goals and I decided to learn one thing new every month. Something artsy and crafty. Did you know that getting started on artsy crafty stuff is expensive??? I wanted to learn how to knit but all of the good instructions dvds and books were expensive. Then I decided that I wanted to leanr how to bead necklaces. To make them look cool, also expensive. I also want to sew stuff and improve my sewing ability, but I have no sewing machine, and they are expensive. Granted most of this stuff really wouldn't be very expensive if I was making money. Hopefully something will work out soon. Anyone know any cool cheap craft projects???

Oh Iowa...

2007-06-29T11:11:00.000-06:00

Well, I think that it is long overdue for a blog. Jonathan and I got all moved to Iowa. It is crazy to think that I live in Iowa. Weird Good though, we really like it. People here are so much nicer than other places that we have been. OUr apartment is nice and much roomier than our place in Salt Lake and those of you who experienced our small apartment, know that it isn't very hard to find something bigger. Since we have been here I have already had 2 jobs and now looking for a 3rd. As soon as we got here I got hired for a bridal shop down the street and it seemed to be perfect, however then I met the owner. She just runs her business a little sketchy, so I started working for a compan called Vangent that helps students fill out the FAFSA. After about a week I felt really uncomfortable about it and so now I am once again looking for a job. However, the day after I decided to quit Vangent, I get a call from the District Manager of Motherhood Maternity. A friend of hers from Coldwater Creek that I almost interviewed with, gave her my name. I interview today. Pretty whirlwind. Wewill have to see what happens. Jonathan it working for ATT as their Apple Product Professional for the new iphone. He is really excited to work with it. So that is up to date in a nutshell. More to come as the adventures of Iowa unfold!!!

Wednesdays

2007-03-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

I like Wednesdays. They are slower than the other days and it gives me a chance to catch up on emails and my blog. Nice. It's the calm before the storm I guess you could say. So Jonathan and I have no idea when we are moving and it is driving me crazy. I like to plan things way far in advance, and it is hard when I can't do that. We are excited to move and will probably move in May or June sometime. We will have to see. I feel bad leaving work so early, but I am excited to go. Who knows.

Don't Yell at the Messenger

2007-03-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Why is it that brides feel a need to get mad at me, when I have no control over the company that is making their dress? This lady called and wanted to order the most awful bridesmaid dresses in the most awful colors; Tangerine, Fushia, Electric Blue, and Key Lime. It also doesn't help that the dresses are these frufy, but the company that has them is out of stock, so it is going to take 14 weeks to order and they won't come in until about a week before the wedding. We have a style that is almost exactly the same that we have in stock and she could have in a couple weeks, but she said she hated it, which I don't know how that works. CRAZY! So she is angry with me because her dresses are coming in right before the wedding. Not my fault. Don't yell at the messanger, please, we don't appriciate it and it isn't our fault.

The Bandwagon...

2007-02-28T11:09:00.001-07:00

Well I thought that I would join today's world and start my own blog. Here it goes...
Life as I know it is very interesting right now. Jonathan is busy with school and getting ready for his recital in April, and I am working at LatterDay Bride. So things are going well, and we decided that it is off to Iowa for next year for Jonathan's Doctoral program. Get ready for the snow!! I told Jonathan I'm excited to go to Iowa, and I really I am, but in order for me to move there I will require covered parking. I discovered this desire last week while Jonathan was in Florida for an audition and it snowed about 6 inches, which isn't alot, but it was heavy wet snow and it took me 15 minutes just to get the snow off my car. Six inches isn't alot and it was time consuming and Iowa gets a lot more snow than we do here. It is going to be a very fun and interesting adventure. Bring it on!!!