Reflections

Another year has come and gone and so much has happened in this year that i cant believe that i am still standing. there are so many things that i have learned this year and am so greatful for the experiences that i have had, that have continued to help me and have been influential in the making and developing of my character that is in the end ME! so here we are at the end of the year to reflect upon the experiences and trials that i have faced that have made me a stronger better person.

I am so greatful for my family, no matter what i have been through or what i am experiences and currently going through they are always there, they are always there for me no matter what! i can depend on my family to pick me back up at my lowest points in life and carry me under their wing until i am able to make it through the day, there were times this year that i definately thought that life would be a lot better if i just stayed in bed :) which i know everyone thinks at some point. another life lesson learned is how much i loved being a mother and how much i throughly enjoyed the simple things in life and watching a beautiful girl grow up. Another thing that i have learned is that it can all change in a blink of an eye but the real leasson lies in what you do after that.

Jonathan left on his mission and that was a great experience for my family, i am so proud of him and am so greatful for the decision that he has made in going on a mission, I love him and am so proud of all that he stands for and all that he is. he has been so successful on his mission and has grown up spiritually that his letters home are inspiring to me. so much that i have been toying with the idea of going on a mission myself.

As you all may know that over the last few months i have moved up to Logan and have moved into an apartment with 6 other girls, some of which were right out of high school and are definately younger than me, that was a challenge in and of itself, but over that last 4 months i have come to love the girls that i live with and have definately come to love my house my roommates, we had 2 girls move out and now there are just 4 of us and its wonderful, we get along great and love to hang out together, girl talk is always nice and the laughter that goes on in our house in refreshing and never ending, the boys next door are always available to kill a spider, fix the lights assemble and move furniture and let us never forget cook us dinner at 11:30 at night when we are all craving cre'pes, yes it is true we are SPOILED and we love it!

I have also come to love true friends, the ones that listen when you need them to the ones that will tell you what you need to hear despite if you dont want to hear it, they are truely what i needed in my life and i am greatful that i have friends like that. its funny how you think how your life will be one minute and the next your surounded by singles friends in a student ward and living with roommates! my life is crazy and i love it, i am so blessed and in all of this trial and error of life i have come to know personally my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ, that through it all i am still ok, i know that when i am weak and need someone there they are there, i am so greatful for the power prayer and i am so greatful for the scriptures in my life and the preisthood and the men in my life that are worthy to hold such an honor. i am so greatful for all that i have and cannot wait to start another year full of excitment and oportunities,

To everyone that has always had a hand in my life thank you for all you have done for me in my life, may the Lord bless you and yours! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

The Bear Lake Monster!!!!!

Hey family! just wanted to update you on my life and whats been happening up here in Logan! well its officially started snowing and i have found myself waking up to temperatures that are not to my satisfaction when it comes to being comfortable, yes it has started to drop below zero and i have found myself freezing in the mornings!! "dont breath because the cold will steal your breath!"

My roommates and I @ Village Inn For Isabells Graduation

Me, Marianne and Andrew.. Happy Birthday!

i have enjoyed getting my own room and setting it up to my liking, and all i have to say is no matter how hard i try to not aquire more things it still happens! i now have 2 bedroom sets and its funny because i moved up here with nothing but a matress and a handful of clothes, i think that i might be cursed.....

I have also really enjoyed my callings in my ward, and being able to attend my ward every sunday, its the highlight of my week, its funny how much you find yourself needing the strength of the lord to get through the weeks and by attending church and participating in sacrament gives you that strength, another nice thing is that whenever i need a blessing i have worthy preisthood holders all around me to come and aid to my callings.

Marianne, Jodi and I at the Turkey Bowl! (it was freezing!)

This week has been especially challenging for me with work, I am a manager at my company and i lost one of my team members and have had to pick up the load for about 3 people ontop of what i do during the day, and i have had to put in long hard hours to get things done, i haev also had to deal with my boss not being the nicest of people, but what doesnt kill you makes you stronger? sometimes i feel that that is not the case in my life! i think i have already died a couple of times this week, i find myself coming home and going strait to bed to sleep the stress off.

So by now i am sure you are all wondering why this entry is entiled the Bear Lake Monster, well let me tell you the story of how my friends and i encountered the monster. to everyones enjoyment and stress relieving activities we decided that we wanted to spend a relaxing vacation weekend up at the cabin. so we packed the car with food and games and clothes for the weekend and headed up Logan canyon to the restful Johnson/Ebert cabin. As you all may know there are certain things that need to be done in order to get the cabin in full swing for guests, the water needs to be turned on outside and inside and the water heater needs to be set etc.

The girls together at the cabin

Well in doing all of this my roomates and i find that the hall bathroom toilet has a small problem, it has decieded not to work properly and flood the entire bathroom after being used, it just wouldnt shut off! YES THE BATHROOM IS THE BEAR LAKE MONSTER! no sooner then we got there were we trying desperetly to clean up water and assest that damage that was done, to our horror the water had leaked through the walls and floors to the downstairs were it was flowing like a waterfall through the light fixture and leaking down the cealing!!!!!

The cealing leaking!

We filled this bowl full of water!

making a migiver contraption to hold the fan to the cealing!This of course took most of out night in cleaning up water poking a whole in the cealing to drain more of the water and then making a contraption that would hold the fan to the cealing so that we could dry the cealing where all the water was, lets just say that this was a night to remember!!! The next day was filled with snow and fun, we took the fourwheelers out and went down to the lake, i got bet 20 bucks that i wouldnt swim in the lake so of course i had to show the boys i could hang so i went for a swim in 30 degree water, and let me tell you that takes your breath away!!

Me swimming in the lake! YUP mom i did it!

We enjoyed the rest of our trip by playing games, going for a drive around bear lake and into idaho and by just relaxing and loving the fact that we didnt have anything to do or needing to be anywhere. it was nice to be surrounded by friends!! Christmas is almost here and that means presents, and wrapping paper and food! i cant wait for Christmas this year!! HOPE THAT YOU ALL HAVE ANJOYED A LITTLE GLYMPS INTO MY LIFE! i love you all and thank you again for being apart of my smiles, laughter and tears!

Love you!!!

Logan Life!!!!

Hey family!!!!! i just wanted to update you all on my crazy life!!! so here is the rundown, I just moved up to Logan! can you believe it! who would have thought that i would have move up here! way too cold but i have grown to love it in just the little time that i have been here. I feel that i have been blessed to be here, I got a full time salaried position with this online furniture company called EFurniture Showroom. I handle all the claims and then some accounts recievable things. so its a great job that pays well and i am really happy about finally haveing a job, after trying to get a job for a year i land one in two days of deciding to move to Logan. think its fate?? yup! the Lord defiantely wanted me to be here! So i am letting him drive right now and seeing where it takes me.

me and lauren at bens cabin

I am going to a great student ward right now, its so nice to be in church with others that are around my age that are single!! i love it! I bore my testimony in church last week, it felt so nice to get up and publicly thank my Heavenly Father for all my blessings. Relief Society is really great too, the girls are really nice and it doesnt feel like they are territorial over things like some other places that i have gone to.

I have made lots of friends up here and my roomates are really cute! they are all a lot younger then me but they are all really sweet and i love being around them. its been really good for me to finally have some friends that i can hang out with!

Last night was Country Dancing night!!! I HAD SO MUCH FUN! I DANCED ALL NIGHT! I GOT THROWN AROUND LIKE A RAG DOLL AND TOSSED AND DIPPED LIKE IT WAS NOTHING! i had so much fun i cant remember the last time that i had had so much fun!

The boys that live next door are great too! they are so fun to be around and they all love to be outdoors, we go camping and hiking and fishing and fourwheeling! and my new found favorite thing is shooting! Yes who would have thought! my favorite size of gun is a 22! we had a shooting contest and i shot an egg right out of the tree on my first turn! it was awesome! i cant wait to get one of my own! hahahaha

Well thats about it for today, I'll be back thanks for all you do for me and all the support that everyone gives to me on a daily basis

Life Update, I am a true Ebert!

Ok so i havent blogged in forever and now i find myself acting like a true Ebert, here i am its 2:52am and i cant sleep!!! why you ask??? because i am trying to solve all my problems and lifes problems all in one night and my brain is on overdrive! AGGGGGGHHHHHH the curse is finally hitting me! i cant believe it!!!!! So yes if anyone is wondering i am my parents child!!!!

So here is the life update! I am no longer getting married, Colby and I are no longer together and the thing that hurts the worse about it all is Haylie, i miss her more and more each day. but I pray for strength and hope that everything turns out all right. if nothing came out of my relationship with him the thing that i know did was that i was the best mother that i knew how to be to Haylie and i was the one there for her when noone else was I taught her right lessons, led by example and let her know and feel that she was loved no matter what! One of my favorite memories with Buggy was that I was the one that got to wake up with her when she turned 2. I have her on video blowing out candles so that makes me smile. so with that i can feel good that i sacrificed myself and everythign i had for a year for her. i loved being a "mother" to her and i cant wait till i can be one again.

Things with me are always up and down back and forth and side to side, I am thinking of moving to Logan to get back into the social life of things. i went recently to a great student ward that i absolutely loved! it was so nice to go to Relief Society and actually have girls there that were around my age! and to have lesons that are targeted toward us and what we are doing in our lives right now. so i am seriously praying and going to the lord to see if this is what i should be doing in my life right now.

i was able to go to bear lake with my one and only Sara and her kids and husband last weekend! it was really fun to get away swim in the lake and just enjoy the cabin and being away from everything. I am going up there again this weekend with Blaine and a lot of his friends so it should be pretty exciting. I also was lucky enough to have the day off on friday so i went with Sara and her kids to Wheeler Farm, we took a tracter ride, fed the ducks and geese, and just hung out. it was nice to spend some time with them

Sara, Kade and Preston

Me and my two favorite boys!!!!!!

Yeeeeehaaaaaaa!!!!

Ride em Cowboys!!!!



So for right now my life has been flipped and turned upside down and i am trying to pick up pieces and put them back together again. I am told that the Lord doesnt ever give you anything that you cant handle so i am praying for the strength to handle my life right now because it feels a little overwhelming. But as Jonathan said in his farewell talk, "my sister is a strong black woman!" so right now thats exactly what gets me up in the morning!

I love you all!!!!!!!!

Finally

Hey everyone!!! i know that its been way too long since I blogged last so Allison, this ones for you! The update on my life, well where do i start?? Things with Colby have been going great these past weeks and they have been going so good that we have decided to get married!!!!! YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAY!!!! We are getting married on OCTOBER 10'2009 in the Draper Utah Temple!!!!! I cant wait to be sealed to him for time and all eternity!!! we are so excited and cant wait to be married! So wedding plans have been taking up a lot of my time, I am trying to put something Fabulous together in 3 months! wish me luck! and i am just hoping that i dont turn into bridezilla!!! but one thing stands true for me and that is I am a bag a tears!!!! yes you all know that my emotions run on overdrive like all the time, well with getting married and having my fiance life 400 miles away things are little more emotional around here and i feel bad for mom and dad because they are getting the brunt end of it.

So lets cover the month of may, Well i turned the big 25 on May 14, and i brought in the new day with breakfast burritos made by my one and only Colby and i was woken up by chubby little fingers stroking my face and a tiny voice wispering in my ear "Happy Birthday Erica" if you all are wondering who that was it was my little Haylie bug comming in and waking me up to tell me that Daddy had made breakfast and that it was ready for us to eat. that day was so fun, Colby and I and Bug went to the Jacob Hamlin home in St George which was really fun and very fasinating.

Colby also bought me my own star in the galaxy for my birthday and named it after me, my star is officially known as "Erica the Beautiful" yes i know ya'll are jelous! heheheh i have the greatest boyfriend in the whole world! he also made me a steak dinner with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob and rolls and chocolate covered strawberrys!!!! and then he and buggy sang happy birthday to me while i blew out the candles! Yes it was the most magical birthday that i have ever had!!!!

Also that weekend Blaine and Mel came down to St George and we all went to Zions on sat, that was an awesome day!!! we had so much fun hiking and just enjoying nature! it was a great birthday week and weekend!!!

To add to all the crazyness, Colby and I bought a house in vegas!!!! we got a smokin deal on this baby and are so excited to make it our home, we are fixing it up and putting our own touches into the place so it feels like ours! we are getting new carpet and we just bought new appliances, stainless steel of course and we are getting new hardwear for everything and new sink focets and shower heads. we are tiling in the kitchen and in both bathrooms! we are so excited to just tear this place up that we are getting a little obsessed, but who can blame us when its our first place!!!! YAYAYAYA I AM LOVING LIFE!!!

i will post photos of everything tomorrow when i have more time to get download them all, i hope that this is a good update, and if i think of anything more i will let you all know, i love you dearly and cant wait to see you all!!!!

Life Update

Hey everyone! sorry its been so long since i have written!!! life has just been soo crazy that I dont know where to start! Well lets see here, i have been traveling back and forth from Vegas about every weekend!!! ya i know! i am driving so much lately that i think i can recognize every rock on the side of the road from here to Vegas! hahahhaha. Well i am not sure exactly what to update you all on, when i am in Vegas i usually always have Haylie with me, so that is always a challenge and fun all at the same time. we love to go Hiking up at Red Rock! that is what we usually are always doing, the last time that i was there Colby surprised me with a picknick and a hike just the two of us, we also went shooting with his gun which was really fun but scarry at the same time, lets just say that before i get a gun i need to take some serious classes on how to do things, but it was really fun, we had targets and everything! HAHAHA

This is at Snow Canyon! on the petrified Dunes!!!

here we all are at Red Rock!!! This was so a high!!! ya i was scared!!



Here is Buggy wit her cousins!

Easter came and went in a flash, Haylie and i drove to vegas again for easter, all of Colbys family was in town that weekend too due to a cousin getting married so his sisters house was full of people! it was great to see his parents again since i havent seen them since Christmas, so that was really great to re-connect with them.

Things in Utah are pretty boring just finishing up school and trying not to get too distracted with summer around the corner and always wanting to be in Vegas with Colby. The bathroom in the hall is coming along great! the walls are all painted the tile has all been laid and the cabinets have been installed. the Countertops are being installed tomorrow and then the plumbing will be finished and we can have a great bathroom finally! i cant wait for it to be all done!!!

i love you all and hope that life is treating you well! i miss you all!!!

here are some pics of the last couple times in vegas, i will post easter pics soon! love you all!!!

Joshua James

Hey family! I was also able to go to Colby's brothers concert! I was able to get a babysitter at the last minute and drove down to Provo with Blaine and some of his friends to see Joshua perform! It was the best concert ever! I had a total blast hanging out with people my age! Dont get my wrong I love talking to Haylie-Bug all the time but sometimes you just need grown up time! After the concert Blaine and I and his friends went out for icecream! I was so tired by the time I got home I am sure that I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!

Hey Chris and Allie! I really think that you would love his music!!!! you should look him up on Itunes!!! its great stuff!!! well I love you all and I miss you!!!!

Total Bliss!!!!

Hey family!!! ok so i know that when Colby is here i drop off the face of the earth! but i think that i am entitled to do that because we don't get to see each other every day like other couples do. so here is the weeks adventures that we have been on since he has been here. I picked up Haylie the Friday before Colby got here, which i always love! she is such a delight in my life that i always love being a mommy!!!

Colby arrived Wednesday night. Thursday i had classes so after my classes we all drove down to Provo to hang out with his family! i love being with them! they are so funny and all have great personalities! don't take offense but I LOVE THAT THEY DONT TALK POLITICS!!!!! ITS SO REFRESHING! any who, we went over to "uncle Joshua's" and played around outside. Joshua and Emma have this really cute puppy named Louii! he's a little chiwawa! and Haylie loves him to pieces! the boys of course were being boys and were jumping from the tramp to the shed and back down, doing tricks on the skateboard and just enjoying each other.After a great afternoon in Provo we drove home, put haylie to bed relaxed and planned to start another day! Friday was a day for just us, we decided to go hiking in Little Cotton Wood Canyon at a trail called Bells Canyon, it had to be about 2 miles and Haylie HIKED THE WHOLE THING!!!!! NOT KIDDING!

here is a pic of the half way point! she still has to go to the top right corner of the picture! you can see the trail if you look hard! YA MY LITTLE BUGGY CAN TOTALY HIKE IT!!!

here we are at the lake that was at the end of the trail, it was so peaceful and so beautiful to just sit and enjoy nature! (ya never thought i would say that did you??!!! hehhee)Hiking took all day, we got home and needed to get ready to go to dinner with his family, by that time we were all so exhausted, but we both clean up well and we had a wonderful time! We went to Chin Wah for dinner and it was great!!! i was so hungry!!!!

After dinner we came back to my house and played pool, ping pong and played balderdash till about midnight! it was so fun! we had a total blast!!!!!

Waking up early Saturday morning to go to the cabin was a little challenging, we wanted to get an early start to the cabin because we had already lost a day with Friday because his sister surprised us by coming into town so we all went to dinner, anyhow, we finally got to bear lake with the sun shining and the day ready for us! We went four wheeling and we went down to the lake! we built a huge Aztek worrier snowman to protect us at night. We went star gazing, walked by the cows so that Haylie could see them since she is a huge animal lover, and best of all we sat relaxed and ate like pigs! it was so nice!!!!!

Here are some pics of all of us at the cabin.. hope you all enjoy! they are goodies!!!

So I hope that you all enjoyed the entry and the pics! I love you all!!!!