Happy Birthday to ME! (Yesterday)

Thursday, July 21, 2011
Today is  my birthday and luckily I am on summer break so I do not have to work, but my husband does. I was not happy about that, but he gave me a kiss as I was still sleeping in bed and told me to do whatever I wanted to do that day. Well, first of all I slept in. Then I went online to find a cake that I wanted to make for myself. I found this wonderfully decadent molten chocolate lava cake on my cousin's wife's cooking blog that was posted by her sister who is also my co-worker at Cherry Creek. I really wanted to make it and was going to go buy some ramekin's, but I didn't end up doing it. It was probably better because of what we were doing later. I decided that I wanted to try to cut my own hair. It wasn't an epic fail, but it wasn't the greatest. I found some tutorials on youtube and tried to do layers. One of them looked like the way they do it in the salons. Pull the hair back in groups up and cut straight across. The other one had me twisting my hair on one side and cutting it straight across and then twisting it again on the other side and cutting it straight across. I tried the traditional style I saw at the salon. I also trimmed my bangs. There was TONS of hair everywhere. Ryan told me I could do whatever I wanted. :-)

The rest of the day I took it pretty easy, but when Ryan got home, that's when I got to see what the surprise was going to be for my birthday. He brought home flowers for me which were so sweet. I was hoping for a Jimmer Fredette shirt from BYU because he's awesome and his number is 32 and I was turning 32, but they didn't have any left. Of course, we went to dinner which was at my favorite restaurant, Chili's. I was glad that I didn't have to go into the effort of making my molten lava cake afterall, even though I want to make it still, someday. 

Then we just got in the car and he started driving. He didn't tell me where we were going, but when we pulled into UVU, there were only a couple of things that we could be doing. Either there was a concert that I didn't know about going on there or we were going to watch the Orem Owlz play. Since I am a big baseball I fan, I guessed the latter and was right! He even got us tickets right behind home plate. He thought those would be the best for the action. Yes, it's very true. Not many people were around us so it was great. Here are some pictures from the night.

Beginning of the game - behind home plate

I guess I should be more specific. Not many people in front of us.
There was a cute old couple next to us. They were friendly.
So you can't see all of my hair, but the bangs are okay.

I love baseball!

The score in the top of the 8th. The Owlz are winning by 2.

Final score, looks like it was still 6-4 Owlz,  but it's fuzzy.

The conquering heroes.

Okay, there is my hair, but again, not a good picture. I think
I took a better one on my phone, but deleted it.

Okay, close up. My hair actually turned out fine.
What a fun night to be out with my husband. I love him!

It was a really fun game to watch and it was nice to go to a baseball game. I miss my Oakland A's desperately though. They are really fun to watch (when they are winning) :-) I wish we lived closer to an actual MLB team, but at least they have farm leagues out here. Play Ball!

Wonderful Year

I was just looking at my last blog post (which was last July) and just knew I couldn't go a year without writing something. It has been a wonderful year. I finished my 3rd year of teaching 6th grade and it was so much fun. After finally getting everything settled, it seemed that I wasn't so stressed and I could actually relax and enjoy having fun with my students while teaching them. I really do enjoy teaching the subjects in 6th grade. I feel really lucky since I love Ancient Civilizations, Astronomy, Microbiology, Math and the fun books to read for this age. I FINALLY finished the Lightning Thief series and am hoping they won't stop with the first movie, but will finish them all. I loved it and it is fun for my students to read as well since it is what I teach about.

It has been a wonderful year being married to my wonderful husband Ryan. He is everything I could've hoped for and more. He is so wonderful to me and my family. I really appreciated how good he was to go out to California for my cousin Melanie's wedding to her now husband Dan. We also spent some good time with my grandma Pauline and grandpa Walker for their 60th wedding anniversary. He was so sweet to them. I am so glad that he is in my life and will be for ever and ever.

I again, hope to be better at writing and will write more about the past year later.

Moving out of Deerhaven

Deerhaven was the name of the area I lived in before I got married. I had some wonderful memories there. I originally moved in with Cammie and Erin (2 of my friends), but they both moved out, I stayed and 2 other girls moved in that I did not know before. I was in the ___________ Ward and was leaving as the Family Home Evening Coordinator. My friend Michele had been the coordinator just before me and had told me (at first I thought it was a joke) that the only way to get out of that calling was to either move or get married. She had gotten out of it by marrying Alan. I didn't know what would happen, but I met Ryan rather quickly after I got the calling, so I guess it was true. :)

Here are some pictures of my room from Deerhaven. I loved my room and the way it was set up. I really loved what I had set up, but now I'm excited to redecorate with new things from the wedding. Here is what my room and bathroom looked like just before tying the knot with Ryan.

Bathroom pictures. I had my own bathroom and it was great!

I loved my shelf with all my lotions and body sprays.

Blue and white was my color scheme. The towels never were great, just for show. They always shed. The shower curtain was on loan from Erin. She made them. She's such a great friend. My new color scheme is green and white.

 Bedroom, black, white, and red. I really like this and thought it was very classy. My mom helped me make the heart pillows and the black and white board.

I loved the curtains (got them from IKEA) and that I put them up with a curtain rod. My red fuzzy has been with me for years (thanks mom!) so it helped with the decision of the color scheme.

The coats and my jewelry were hung on towel racks my mom used to have in her bathroom. I just painted them black. Yes, my wedding dress is in the closet. I LOVE my wedding dress!!

I thought the mirror was kind of fun. My landlord didn't when it didn't come off. Thank you to Jennica who moved in after me! She found a way to take it off for me. She was a friend in the ward.

This was the extra bedroom, which Erin and I decided I could use, but the closet was for anyone to use. The reason we decided I could use it was because she had the massive master bedroom. :)

The pictures I had hanging on the wall. I don't think Ryan will love the unicorn tapestry I got from New York.

The drapes and desk area. The flowers of course are from Ryan. I tried to dry them. (Didn't work in the end).

My bulletin board with my to do list. This ended up going to school for a Message Board.

A better picture of the flowers. Good thing I got some pictures before they were destroyed in the move.

I enjoyed my time at Deerhaven. We had lots of parties there, friends coming over, family home evenings, sleep overs, dinner groups, etc. There was a lot more to it, such as the kitchen, living room, and basement. It was two stories (three with the basement) and we had lots of fun there. I will miss it, but not too much. I am excited to be moving on to a new chapter in my life. Once we get everything out, I will leave all of my stuff at Ryan's parents house. Then I will stay there for a night before we leave for California to get married. We need to get out there early so that we can get everything else done before the wedding! I am so excited that the big day is finally here!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010
This is a big year! First of all, I've never had a boyfriend on my birthday. How lucky I am that not only do I have a boyfriend, but he is my fiancé! How wonderful is that! We weren't going to celebrate today on my actual birthday because Ryan is still in the middle of school and had a paper to work on, so we celebrated on July 23rd instead. We really just took it easy because we had been so busy with wedding plans, but we still went out to dinner. We went to Chili's and I had a wonderful 6 oz. steak with pico de gallo on it. Yum! He got me a CTR ring as a present, but it was the wrong size, so he had to take it back. He got a ring with little cubic zirconium's embedded in the sides (like my ring - except there were 4 on each side). I loved it!

Then we went to a movie after dinner.

Happy Birthday to me. I just love those bright blue eyes.

The family at Chili's

Jakers

Another picture, trying to get everyone in the shot. :)

I love my fiancé! He is so romantic.

The next day, Saturday July 24th, was the day I did my bridals up at the Utah State Capitol. (I will do a separate post on that). We went to dinner with Ryan's family for my birthday at Chili's that night. (2 nights in a row? Not complaining at ALL!) It was fun to be with the family and Ryan's parents got me some more things from my registry. Don & Mel gave me a baseball book called "Kiss it Good-bye". They have some fun family traditions and I am looking forward to being the newest member of the Peck family in 12 days!

Great News!

I should just face it that I am not a great blogger, but I need to post in order to let everyone know how excited I am to be marrying the man of my dreams in 29 days. This joy and happiness that I feel is so incredible and hard to describe, but it was worth the wait. I am marrying Ryan Gammon Peck on August 6th, 2010 in the Oakland, CA Temple. We went on our first date on January 23 which was a set up by my cousin Jason. They are in the MBA program at the UofU. It has been wonderful ever since. I definitely fought it a little bit at first. Those that are close to me will remember that the big deterrent for me at first was his height. (He is 6'1" and I am 5'2" :)


However, height definitely did not matter in the end. It was just so natural our relationship. There are a lot of things that played into why this worked out so well, but on my part I remember thinking that I was going to go into this relationship not hiding anything. I was going to be completely myself and if he liked me, then he liked me, but I was not going to worry about it if he did not. I was ready to find the love of my life and it didn't take too long. I am so grateful for who he is and his dedication to the gospel, his schooling, family, friends, and our relationship. We have set up another blog that I will be better at :) Tracy, my girl, helped me make it the best it could be. Thanks again Tracy. Click on the picture to follow the new blog, so please check it out. I will talk more about how we met and fun things like that on there. This is definitely another transformation in my life and I am loving it. Thank you to all for your love and support.

Blessed

I am truly blessed to have a great family and wonderful friends. In the past few days I have had some wonderful talks with wonderful people in my life. I am so grateful for the support that they show me and how much they care for me. It is the last part of spring break and I am sad because I need to go back to work, but school is coming to a close and we need to persevere to the end. I have some great examples in my life of those that have continued to press forward, or kampa pa (shempa po - can't write it in swedish lettering) which means "struggle on".
There are some hard workers out there and I have seen how they have been blessed because of their choices. I hope to be like them someday. Thanks to all of those who have supported me throughout the years. I am truly blessed.

What happened to February?

Okay, so my last post was on the last day of January and I was welcoming February into my life. Where did it go? It is gone. I know it's late and Ryan if you read this, sorry, I had to post before midnight :) but on something I wanted to.

This blog started out to be about my running. As most of you know, I was in a roll over accident in October and have not been running for 5 months. I thought I would just say, I am starting over, slow with the running, but I have a plan to get back into it. I was so sad when I found out I couldn't run the REX LEE RUN this year because I have to take the PRAXIS at 7:30 that morning. There is no way I will be done with the test and be able to run at 9. So sad.

However, that aside, I am beginning slow. Yesterday, I ran for 20 minutes, but it was a 1 minute run, then 3 minute walk, alternating. It was fine since I was just getting back into things. Today, I did pilates, abs, and walked fast for twenty minutes (which ended up being up and down my stairs).

Am I excited? Do I feel great about getting back into running? YES!! An emphatic Yes. Now, I just need to be consistent and listen to my body as I pursue my goals to be back where I was previous to my accident. I also want to finally get my mountain bike and start biking around. Spring is coming and Summer will be here around the corner. I am so excited.

February, I'm sorry I missed you in the blogging world, but it was a good month, lots of good things happened. :)