I Heart Holidays

I absolutely love the holidays! Family and friends together, snow, Christmas music, fire burning.. its the best. We got to go home for Thanksgiving and had a blast with our families. Black Friday shopping, too much food and too little sleep.

Sue and Drew (we rent from Sue - she's Drew's mom) got to come up with us. It was the first time they ever saw a snow storm! Drew was so cute, he was so excited when he "went outside and the snow on his hand felt cold." We were able to go to Temple Square with them, it was absolutely gorgeous with the lights and the snow falling and the temple in the background. Sue and Drew LOVED it. It was nice to see snow again, but even nicer to get to leave the snow and come back to 75 degrees.

We put up our tree together in our tiny little trailer. One of my favorite parts of the season!

On a completely unrelated note, I'm helping coach a varsity soccer team down here. We had our first game yesterday and won 4-0. Yay! Copper is growing up, but still passionately hates the vacuum. Even when it's not turned on, he HATES it. Forrest has his last day of school today (woohoo!) so he's half way done with his program. Can't wait for him to be done! Other than that, life down here is still good! Nice and warm.

Life in So Cal

Went to listen to President Obama speak at USC (let it be known I did not vote for him, but it was cool to go see the President in person!)

Went to many more Trojan football games and took Drew to a girls soccer game. He loved it! Gotta love the USC marching band. The Spirit of Troy! They're way good.

Ran a 5k over Halloween weekend. We decided to dress up a little for the race!


Forrest got lots of funny looks.

We were very tired but ran the whole thing together without stopping. Yay! Forrest's 1st 5k ever!

Took Drew to Disneyland. A lot!

Went to the beach. It doesn't look like it but it was really bright! So I was squinting.

Played some intermural basketball. Forrest's team was pretty good, all MAcc students. It's cool how diverse their team was: L to R Jeff, Xavier (from France), Forrest, Shont (from somewhere foreign..), Anoop, and on the bottom is Carlos (from Spain). They are a funny group of guys!

And went to a Clippers game! Of course being from Utah we can never be Lakers fans, but the Clippers are fun to cheer for. Thanks Uncle Ralph for the tickets!

All in all, we love life in LA! It's nice having 70-90degree weather in October/November instead of snow! (Or the 100 degree weather we're having today.) Of course we miss all our family and friends SOOO much and can't wait to see everyone in a few weeks for Thanksgiving!

Our Growing Family

Forrest and I finally decided it's time to expand our family. So last week, we adopted a little 8 month old baby boy! He's a chihuahua/mini doberman (?) mix, we think. He was a rescue and we think he was abused by a man before we got him, because he is scared of men. He loves girls, but boys really scare him. He's getting used to Forrest, but he doesn't so much like Drew or any other boys he's met so far. He likes to growl at them. But we adopted him from a shelter and he is just so fun and we absolutely love him! We named him Copper. Forrest wanted to name him Moose and I wanted Copper, so we flipped a coin and I won :) Yay!

He is such a sweetheart. He's mostly house-trained and has only had 1 accident inside so far. He loves to run and play and he follows me EVERYWHERE. I don't even have to put him on a leash when we go outside because he won't leave my side. He doesn't hardly bark, and he loves to run and play. He loves to hide under our kitchen table - it's his favorite spot. He's so sweet and has made us so happy already.

Meet Drew

Drew is our new adopted little brother. We live right next to him and rent from his mom. He is 19 years old, and has a few handicaps. Despite his challenges, he is extremely high functioning and very social. We take him to Disneyland a lot and he absolutely loves it! He comes with me every day when I go to pick Forrest up from the train. He adores Forrest - it's so cute! He does everything Forrest does, including ordering the same food as him any time we eat out. He spends a lot of time over on our couch talking to me while I cook and clean. He loves all things Disney, and is obsessed with customer service. He is extremely well travelled and has been all over the world with his mom and his late father. He is an only child, and has always wanted a brother or sister. So he has taken to calling Forrest and I his big brother and sister. It just melts our hearts. He is such a sweetheart!

When we moved here, he had just begun investigating the church. So every Sunday at 8:30 a.m., never fail, he is at our door telling us we need to get going or we'll be late for church. He loves church so much! The missionaries have been coming over frequently to teach him, and he is so receptive to their messages. After listening to the missionaries for a couple of months, he decided that he wanted to join our church. So last week, he was baptized! He asked Forrest to perform the baptism and it was so special. I've never seen anyone as excited about being a member of our church as he is. Every time he prays, he says "I'm thankful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - my favorite church!". It is so cute! He is going to be a fantastic member.


We absolutely love Drew and we are so proud of him for taking this wonderful step. He is a great example to both of us and is such a light in our lives. We are so blessed to have him as part of our little family now.

We love you Drew!

Looking Back

Looking back on my life the last 2 years, there are a lot of things I miss. Of course, there are a ton of wonderful things about California, and I absolutely love being here. Living where we do is like a dream come true. But still, I miss a lot of things about good old Cedar City life.

1. I miss my friends. The very most of anything I miss from there - I miss my friends. I miss hanging out all night long playing Rock Band. I miss FHE every Monday - knowing that no matter what, we would at least yet to spend a few hours per week with the best friends ever.
2. I miss the track team. My coaches, teammates, and even the stupid hill. (Ok I don't really miss the hill that much). I miss travelling with everyone on the weekends, competing, working out, and feeling so accomplished at having reached a new level physically.
3. I miss having the only wardrobe decision I had to make be which "SUU Track and Field" shirt I was going to wear to practice that day.
4. I miss being able to walk to the grocery store, school, church, shopping.. basically anywhere I wanted to go, I could walk.
5. I miss jumping in the car and being where I needed to go in less than 5 minutes (as opposed to sitting in traffic for hours).
6. I miss being able to drive home basically anytime I wanted and having it only take 3.5 hours.
7. I miss having Carlia and the girls so close to me so I got to see them nearly every week. I miss McKaydee coming over to my house and eating all my candy because I couldn't tell her no. I miss "flying" her around Walmart to keep her laughing when she was so tired but mommy still had shopping to do.
8. I miss SUU's beautiful campus and wonderful people.
9. I miss having a ward where everyone else was my age and in very similar positions in life so we could all relate and get along so well.
10. And last but not least, I miss the seasons. I miss seeing the leaves turn colors in the fall and the brisk fall air that means football season is here. When winter comes around I know I'll miss the snow (not driving in it - but the beauty of seeing it fall slowly to cover the ground). I'll miss the flowers blooming despite a little snow still on the ground in the spring.

Cedar City was such a wonderful place. It holds a very special place in my heart, and always will. Of course, I could also give a list of 10 things that I WON'T miss about Cedar (the wind and the lack of a shopping mall being at the top), but I truly do miss.

However, despite all the things I love and miss about that small town, I know that we are where we're meant to be. The Lord has been so good to us on our journey here and has blessed us beyond anything we could have expected. I'm sure when the time comes for us to leave La Habra, we will have a special place in our heart for it too. In fact, I think we already do.

Life is Beautiful

Today we went swimming (yes we have a pool - it is amazing). I was just sitting there in the pool, listening to Forrest and Drew play cops and robbers (pool version) in the background, looking at the gorgeous sunset. All the brilliant colors of orange, pink, red, blue in the sky as the sun went down behind the mountain lined with palm trees. It was so beatiful. And I just felt so overwhelmed with happiness. This truly is a beautiful and wonderful world and there is so much good in it.

Life is beautiful.

On a completely different note, we had family pictures taken with the Ledbetter family over labor day weekend when we were in Utah. Taken again by our phenomenal photographer friend from the SUU track team, Jacki Stoddard. She just posted a few of them on her blog and they are amazing. jackistoddard.blogspot.com Check them out! She is so talented and always does a wonderful job! Thanks Jacki!

Fight On

Forrest was so excited to go to USC because they have an awesome football team. I mean, that's not the only reason but it definitely made the school seem much more attractive. So of course, going to a great football school, he insisted that we spend more money than we should and buy season tickets. So we did. And it was totally worth it.

Last night we went to their opening home game against Virginia. It was probably the most exciting sporting event I've ever been too. The stadium was totally packed with a sea of maroon (Forrest says it's "Cardinal" not maroon) and gold. The marching band was AMAZING, we had 2nd row seats.. it was incredible. It was so fun to become a part of so much tradition (not that I'm really a part of it - but Forrest is and he loves it!). He bought me a USC sweatshirt so I could fit in with the crowd. And of course the Trojans won so it was all the better.

So from now on, I've got to say I will be an avid USC supporter. So Trojans, Fight On!

What a Week

This last week has been so crazy, but really fun too!

Here is our week's schedule, starting with last Friday.

Friday: Forrest's last day of internship (PS he got a job offer from Deloitte! Yay!), Drove up to Utah from Vegas to visit family.

Saturday: Went to my cousin's wedding, hung out with family

Sunday: Drove back to Vegas

Monday: Packing and cleaning our apartment in Vegas, loading up the U-Haul, check out of our apartment and move to California to our new apartment! (Thank heavens for my mom and dad helping us out with our move from Vegas - we couldn't have done it without them!)

Tuesday: Unload the U-Haul and return it, move everything inside and begin to get settled in our new home

Wednesday: Forrest started school, meanwhile I unpacked some more

Thursday: Forrest at school again, more unpacking for me (BORING)

Friday: Disneyland!! Yay! We decided to buy season passes since we only live like 10 miles away. We went early in the morning and stayed until close. So fun!
*Note* The lady we rent from has a son, Drew. He is autistic, and is 19 years old. He is so cute and so fun! He came with us and his mom bought him a season pass. I've never seen anyone as excited as him to be there and he was so proud to be a season pass holder. He was practicing all day to get his picture taken for his pass because he wanted it to look perfect. He LOVES everything Disney. He knows the year that every ride in Disneyland was built. He memorized all the things that the ride operators repeat every time you get on the ride (ie. on California Screaming, it says "Ok Screamers, heads back, face forward, and hold on!" or something like that). He was cracking us up the whole time.

Saturday: Did some shopping, cleaned the house, then went to a Dodgers game! We haven't decided if we are Dodgers fans yet (Ashley tells me I can't be one), but we did have a good time at the game! We had great seats on the 13th row right behind the Dodgers dug-out. And they won! We had such a great time. Thanks to Sara and Erick for getting us the tickets!

And then Sunday to relax. It has been a crazy week but we've loved every minute of it. We love California and are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

PS sorry about the lack of pictures. My camera went for a swim in June and I have yet to get it fixed.

The Best 2 Years

2 years ago today was the happiest day of my life.
So much anticipation. Nerves at an all time high.
Not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.
The white dress, the bright flowers, the beauty of the Provo Temple.
My handsome groom holding my hand tightly through it all.
Tears of sadness at the life I was leaving behind, but more tears of joy at the adventure we were about to begin.
My sisters played their guitars and sang while we danced, seeing and hearing nothing but each other.

2 years ago, I had no idea the adventures that we would have together.
I never could have anticipated how my life would have changed so much.
I would never have thought that the seemingly simple choice of marrying him would have me moving so far out of my comfort zone to a whole new world, so different from anything I've ever known.
I never could have expected how truly happy we would be.

2 years ago today, I ensured that my best friend would be by my side forever.
And it was the best choice I've ever made.


Happy Anniversary Forrest, I love you!!

My Favorite Things

I've had lots of time lately to spend enjoying my favorite things, so I though i'd share a few with you. Of course this list is incomplete and excludes some of the most important and truly favorite things I have: my family, the gospel, and friends. So here are a few of my other favorites:


Monopoly, of course


1saleaday.com - truly some of the best deals ever


Ross, Marshalls, TJ Max - Thanks to these stores I have a new resolve to never spend over $5 on an article of clothing. My wardrobe has significantly improved in quantity and even quality (surprisingly) since I made that choice.


Who doesn't love the beach? And palm trees are so peaceful and beautiful.


The Office! I love it so much.


I could find a million uses for this stuff, and seriously eat it for every meal in some way or another.


Isn't he the cutest thing ever? I have this odd fascination with monkeys and I really really want one for a pet. Forrest says no because they stink.


This is one of the saddest things about leaving Utah. No more GTU! My favorite show ever.


Grandpa Giles serves grapefruit for breakfast every morning, and he reminded me how good it is! I can't get enough of it.


Covergirl Fusion Mascara. Try it. Love it.


Eragon - dragons and fantasy and one of the best books I've ever read. I'm almost finished with Eldest (the 2nd book) and can't wait to read Brisingr (the 3rd).


Cox channel 28, love it. I especially love Wizards of Waverly Place, Phinneas and Ferb, and Hannah Montana.


The best cheese ever. It's so good on bagels, celery, bread, crackers - anything.


The best chapstick I've ever found. It's hard to find so anytime I find some I buy every last tube the store has in stock. Seriously, I do.


I couldn't put this book down. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. It's so different, and so romantic! I mean not like in a sappy love way, but in a way that makes you fall in love with the characters and the time period and everything.


Cheesey, I know, but this has been my favorite show since I was like 5. Forrest makes fun of me because I still watch it whenever I can.


A recent discovery, but they have the best deals ever.

If I think of any more things I love I'll be sure to include them later :)

Finally Here

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks. I feel like I've been hit by a big whirl wind! Right before we moved, we went to spend some time with our families. We had a great week with everyone, even though we crashed our boat and Forrest came out with some minor injuries. It was still fun though!

Our hearts were broken later that week when our wonderful, loving Grandma Giles passed away. It was really tough and sad but we got through it. Grams was blessed to have the whole family with her the week before she passed. The service was very nice, and although it's been so hard to let her go, we know she's happy and is in a better place and not suffering any longer. We love and miss you Grams!

The day after Grams left us, we were so blessed (as most of you know) to have a new addition to the family! My sister Sara and her husband Dan have been trying to adopt for many years and they were finally blessed with a beautiful and wonderful little girl, Tatum Suzanne Fishler. We all love her so much, she's so tiny and sweet! She has been such a wonderful addition to the family, which brings the tally to 4 grand-daughters and 0 grand-sons. We love them all so much.

After stopping to meet Tatum and see her wonderful parents, we made the drive down to Las Vegas with our U-Haul and we're finally here! Not for long, just until August but we're loving it! We had some great friends that helped us move and we're so appreciative of them. Thanks everyone for your help and for coming to visit us down here!

Now hopefully we can just relax and enjoy the ride for the next 6 weeks then we get to move all over again!

Change

It seems like so much has changed lately. And I know the changes aren't about to stop. They're just going to keep on coming!

First of all, Forrest and I both graduated with our bachelor's degrees a month ago today. It feels so great to be done!

Second, the track season is over. Our last season. We both accomplished our long time standing goals. Mine was to run a 56 second 400 (I ran a 56.9 in the finals of the 400 and took 7th place). Forrest's was to throw the javelin 200 feet (He has 5 throws around 180' then finally his last throw went 201'6" for a 17 foot personal record). It was so exciting to finally accomplish our goals and dreams. Forrest's throw was far enough to qualify him for the first round of nationals in Austin, Texas where he competed last week. He went in ranked 46th in the West and ended up in 42nd. It was a good end to a great season.

Third, we both recently worked our last days at our jobs. Since we are no longer students, we can't work our "student jobs" anymore. So no more work for us until Forrest starts his internship and I get a job!

Fourth, since we only have 2 weeks left in Cedar City and only 1 Sunday left in our ward, I was released from my calling. It's strange to be finished, and I'm a little sad about it. We're not sure of when Forrest will be released.. just as soon as they find someone else to fill his position I guess. We're sad to be leaving our wonderful ward that we've grown to love over the past 2 years!

It's strange, all this change. I have started school every August since I was 5 years old. I've had a job every summer (and most of the time during school) since I was 15. I've played at least 1 competitive sport every year since I was 12. And now, in a matter of about 2 weeks, they're all over. I think it'll really hit me in August when Forrest starts school and I don't.

Change is good though, I have to keep reminding myself. Sometimes we have to give stuff up in order to move on to bigger and better things. So as sad as I am about what we'll be leaving behind, I'm more excited for what lies ahead.

LA Here We Come!

After much contemplating, travelling, touring, discussing, praying, fasting, and visiting the Temple, we've finally made a decision on where we want to go for graduate school.

Though it was a really tough decision, we finally settled on USC. (in case anyone is confused, it's the University of Southern California - not South Carolina)

We're excited and anxious to experience life in the big city of LA! Especially me since Cedar City is by far the biggest place I've ever lived. And compared to Wallsburg its enormous! So I think LA will be a drastic change, but we're both very excited and look forward to what the next year has to bring!

We're SO Ready!

Graduation is 10 days away. I just got my final assignments turned in, and now I'm helping Forrest write his last research paper. Then we're done. I have 2 finals to study for, then it's all over. I've never been so excited to finish anything in my life. I'm glad Forrest has some good plans for the future because I really don't know what's next for me. No more school, that's for sure.

I'm really excited about being done, in case you didn't notice. We're definitely ready for the next stage of life.

How to Decide?

Well so much for thinking we had decided we were moving to Virginia. Forrest has recently received two more acceptances: Arizona State University and the University of Southern California. We've got lots of decisions to make and heaven only knows how and when we'll decide. Next week we are flying out to Virginia to tour William and Mary. We've been to ASU, so that leaves one more campus visit to USC, but that'll probably happen after we graduate (which by the way is in 3 weeks - I'm so excited!!). All three of these schools are ranked in the top 25. USC is actually ranked 4th in the nation so that's a pretty big pull for Forrest. We'll see though. Forrest is beside himself with excitement, and I'm so proud of him. He's worked very hard to get here, and we have been so blessed by our Father in Heaven. We'll let you know when, and if, we ever come to a decision.

On a side note - we had a track meet in California last weekend. It was very successful. Forrest and I both did really well, but the best news is: my 4x400 team broke to school record!! Actually, we shattered it by 2.5 seconds. It was so exciting. I ran the first leg and got a personal record of 56.5 seconds. I was so excited, I've been wanting to run a 56 ever since my sister Ashley did it her junior year of high school. I'm still nowhere near as fast as she was, but it's exciting to finally have run a 56. It was so exciting - our team all ran so well. I love the other girls on my team and I'm so glad we finally got the record. Now we have a chance to make it to pre-nationals.. we can only hope! And try to run faster of course.

We are so blessed

Forrest is such a dreamer. Not in a bad way, though. He definitely doesn't limit his options. Everything he wants to do, he does it - regardless of how many people tell him he can't do it, regardless of the odds that are against him. Sometimes I think he's crazy or that he's setting himself up for failure. But somehow he always surprises me.

Last year about this time, he told me he had two goals: #1 - work for Deloitte (one of the big 4 accounting firms, best place possible to launch a career in public accounting), and #2 - get accepted into a national top 25 accounting program. Coming out of SUU, these dreams seemed pretty unrealistic.

Well last week was our Spring Break. Forrest had applied and interviewed for a summer internship with Deloitte in Vegas, and he was fortunate enough to be invited for a 2nd interview. So the first day of our break we went to Vegas with the Webbs for Forrest's interview. He interviewed Monday night and Tuesday morning/afternoon. After his interview, we all headed to San Diego for the week. A couple of hours after we left Vegas, Forrest got a phone call - it was one of the Partners at Deloitte, calling to offer Forrest the internship! We were so incredibly excited. It was a dream come true.

As if we weren't already happy enough - the next day when we were in San Diego, Forrest got an email from William and Mary. He got accepted into their Master of Accounting program, and of course it is a top 25 program. So, chances are very good that we'll be moving to Virginia in August, after a wonderful and warm summer in Las Vegas.

Forrest has worked so incredibly hard for this, and I'm so proud of him. We also know that these things couldn't have happened without the help of our Heavenly Father, and we are so grateful to him for blessing us with so much.

Congrats Forrest!

PS Can anyone guess how much I paid for that scarf in the pics? $1 at D.I. I think it's my new favorite accessory.

Family Photos

Since Forrest and I are soon to be graduating, we decided that we needed some family pictures. Let me tell you, it's tough to find a photographer in Cedar City. My awesome friend on the track team, Jacki Stoddard, is a senior photography major and just started her own business. So last week she took our pictures for us and she did such a fantastic job! I don't have digital copies of them yet, but you can check them out on her blog. Thanks Jacki!

Seattle!!

So there's a really big track meet every year in Seattle. Only the top runners from the team get to go. Usually they take about 3 girl sprinters - this year they took 4. And I was one of them! I was so excited. For so long I've just been mediocre. Maybe it's because it's my last year on the team.. I don't know, but somehow I've gotten a lot faster this year. So we went to Seattle on Thursday and got back Sunday. It was so awesome and beautiful and so so fun! There were 19 of us total (I think) and we had such a blast.

Here's the awesome track we got to run at. It was a really nice track, but a small facility.


One of the guys on our team, Cameron Levins, ran the mile and did AMAZING! He broke the 4 minute mile barrier, running a 3:59.80. So fast. He was running against two olympians and the previous NCAA national champion. He's the first athlete in SUU history to break 4 minutes, and his time automatically qualified him for nationals and put him in 4th place right now in the NCAA. Unbelievable. Here's his time on the scoreboard: He's the one in 4th.

This is our 4x4 team at the track. We ran pretty well, especially since it was only the 2nd meet of the season. It was really fun getting to know the girls better, especially Shaye (far left) because she's a freshman so I didn't hardly know her at all. They are a really fun group of girls and we had a blast together!

On Friday we went to Pike's Market.. it's this huge street market right on the waterfront. It was so awesome. After we went, we were watching Grey's Anatomy. There was a part where Derek gets into the elevator and the door behind him is glass. The view behind him was of this very sign behind us in the picture! The one that says Public Market Center. I thought that was really cool. It was a way fun market!

There was so much fresh fish at the market. These crabs were monstrous! Like I don't even think both of my hands would be as big as they were. They were so huge.


This is the team at the waterfront! Just the sprinters, plus Carlos (a thrower) and our coach. We had a really good time in Seattle and I miss it already! I wish I could go back, it was so beautiful.

Things to do in 2010

1) Get a professional massage
2) Paint a canvas picture
3) Graduate from college
4) Get a real job
5) Learn to play one song really well on the guitar
6) Read 6 new books (not Harry Potter, Twilight, or text books)
7) Travel outside of Utah for something other than a track meet
8) Go to a professional sporting event
9) Volunteer at least 3 times
10) Share the gospel with at least 1 person

What are you going to do in 2010 that you'll remember for the rest of your life?