Carnival Rides

Before:During:

After:

Sky Ride and Shoes

Terror Ride

Bumper Cars

haha look at Eric

Good times. :)

Loyal Fan

Dear Autumn,

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am that you've finally arrived. It's not that I don't like different things about the other seasons but there is just something about you that makes me absolutely giddy.

Yesterday, Eric and I went up Timpanogos to see you at your best and I have to say that my favorite color of yours is that red that looks like the tree is on fire next to the golden aspen trees. While we were a bit sad that we missed all the flowers of summer, you made up for it in the crisp air and your perfectly lovely smell.

Now that you are here, there are a few things Eric and I are hoping to do. We want to go to a corn maze, carve pumpkins, make warm soups, drink hot chocolate by the gallons, go to football games (not to mention watching dozens of them), play tennis in the afternoon, eat carmel apples, decorate for the season and coming holidays, throw my very first party and wear sweaters. I've also really missed my Rocketdog boots.

Some don't understand my love for you but I think it has something to do with my genetics. I can't help it. It's in my blood. Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting my mother? She has instilled a love of your time of year in me and all my sisters from the time we were tiny. We go to Gardner Village and watch conference together. We swap all the best of your recipes and let the calories slide a bit. We watch Halloween movies together and talk about the best costumes. We have sparkling cider for Thanksgiving and we listen to the same old stories my mother tells of her childhood and ours and we'll all laugh like we've never heard them before.

I'm not sure if Eric loves you as much as I do but he certainly has fond feelings. I think it has to do with leaving the window open in the morning and snuggling under the covers before getting out of bed. He likes to snuggle in cool weather and I can't pretend it isn't my favorite time of day either. I still can't seem to get him to love hot chocolate the way I do but he certainly likes carmel apples and pumpkin cookies.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm happy you are here. You make me really appreciate my loved ones and for the time we have to be together. Without them, I don't know if I would love you as much as I do. So thank you for the time you have to share with us and for the peaceful feeling I have when I watch you slowly come and slowly go again.

Your Loyal Friend,

Kate

State Fair '09

Oh meet me in St. Louis, Louis
Meet me at the fair
Don't tell me the lights are shining
Any place but there!

So last friday Eric and I went to the Utah State Fair with our good friends Kalli and Joel Smith.

We did lots of fun things!

I got my first carmel apple of the season!
(not very good sadly)

Pet the sheep!

Watched this goat run up to be pet by everyone just like a puppy. :)

Pet the bunny!

Saw lots of prizes for people who can do things I can't.

I'd like to try though.

Got Lemonade from a "lemon"ade stand. Made with real lemons!




Picked up some cotton candy for my mom and sneaked lots of kisses!

I really liked the bunnies and this one was the coolest I've ever seen!

we liked it so much i think we'll go every year

This is Ladies Night

Last night Shannon and I met up with some old roommates and good friends of mine. Julie and Angela. I lived with them at the Regency Apartments when we were all attending BYU. This is proof that I did infact go to college and I had friends there. We went to dinner first at Shoots (the Riverwoods in Provo) because Julie is expecting her fist baby and she was too hungry to wait. That worked out because I was really hungry too and I don't have an excuse.

We then went to Color Me Mine in Provo. If you haven't heard of it, you just go in and pick a ceramic piece and you sit and a table and paint. Here is Julie with her baby bottle that she'll keep baby stuff in.

This is Angela. She just got home from her mission. She was in New York City area speaking spanish. Now she can talk to all the RM's at BYU.

And Shannon. Always the artist.

I did a little cup cinnamon red and moose brown. I hope it turns out. I'm planning on keeping it on my desk to collect randoms like change and earrings. You always need something to hold that stuff.

Have a happy Labour Day! Eric and I will be spending it watching the BYU game, eating pizza, teaching primary, and camping with Brit and Brady and the Praags up and Jordon Nel. Jordon El. Joredonel. huh. I have no idea how that is spelled.

Play Dates

Something that I absolutely love about my husband is that he still asks me on dates. I'm not talking about the fact that we go to dinner and a movie on weekends. Every few weeks, I get an email or he looks at me seriously and asks if I would please go on a date with him. When I say "yes I would love to" he always gets really excited like he wasn't sure what I would say.

We dress up especially nice and he makes sure to open all my doors. I've noticed that we act differently with each other as well. We both make a more conscious effort to ask each other questions and to make sure the other is having a good time. We are very mushy gooshy and we sit on the same side of the table so we can hold hands.

I hope we go on thousands of dates.
Love you honey

My Birthday is a Week Event

I bet ya'll didn't think you would see a post again from me this soon did you?? I like to keep you on your toes. :)

So it's Sunday afternoon and I'm still not done celebrating my birthday yet! Turns out that the Keeles decided to also have cake for me too! Having two families is that best!

So I got a transmitter for my car so I can use my iPod while I drive, a new SWEET hair dryer, some new clothes including a new pair of jeans! Oh and then Eric brought me some beatiful, live yellow gerbera daisies (my favorites) to work for me and then he felt like I still didn't get enough so I got the Nike+ iPod application!! It's freaking sweet. I put a sensor on my shoe and it tracks my distance, time, calories burned and it plays music at the same time.

I've decided that I'm going to try to train for a half marathon. I think that would be so amazing and I'm young. It's not like I don't have the time you know?

Thursday, after enjoying my team meeting (seriously, my team is so fun we all look forward to our weekly meeting) and some yummy cake, I drove to Layton Mall to meet Brit to go shopping. She totally out did herself and got me some super cute accessories. I love accessories. They really do make an outfit. It was so good to see Brit again and we talked so much that our throats were sore! It's so nice to have a friend that you just click with so well and have so much fun with.

So Friday we did infact sleep in till 9 and then we went to run some errands. Our Honda is officially registered so we can drive it again! Yay! We are going to save SO much on cash. Our Xterra (while still awesome) only gets like 17 miles to the gallon AND it only take premium. Yeah, we didn't know that when we bought it. Anyway, we got the car going and then went to lunch at Won Won Wok here in Saratoga Springs. I really liked it but the General Zao's (spelling?) wasn't spicy so Eric wasn't a fan. Then we went all over to buy clothes including the Park City Outlet Mall. For dinner we did infact end up at Olive Garden. Good stuff.

Saturday we got up and went to work. I was not happy about going to work but Eric was so sweet and he surprised me with flowers and some dark chocolate so that made it tons better. One of my best friends in the world called me Saturday from Alaska to talk sing me Happy Birthday and I got to talk to her about her adventures so that was really great. We then went to my family reunion up Millcreek Canyon. It was fun to see some people I haven't seen in a long time and I especially enjoyed introducing my husband. That doesn't get old.

That night we went with my brother Paul to buy his new Xbox 360. Eric was pretty excited about that. They are actually playing right this second. Personally, I think Gears of War is a bit violent for Sunday but I pick my battles. (No pun intended).

On another note, I had my 6 month review this week and I was so nervous! Turns out that I'm doing really well and I'm still improving. It's so nice to have your hard work is appreciated and to be motivated to do better with out being shamed for the things you need to work on. I'm really loving my job and team right now.

Well, I'm going to see if I can figure out my new iPod toy. Thank you all for your many birthday wishes! It means a lot to me and it feels good to realize how many people really care about you. All in all, it was a fabulous week. :)

Summer Games '09

Ok here is my mother of all posts to catch everyone up to speed on our fabulous life. Or I will tell you as much as I can remember.

First order of business was that we had our 1 year anniversary August 2. Which was actually a Sunday so we celebrated Saturday.

Eric got me the most beautiful earing and necklace set. He said he told the jeweler that I like hearts so he chose from those. It's white gold with 3 diamonds in each piece to symbolize our past (yeah it's not long) present and future. Love it!

I got Eric a new computer chair because that's where he spends half of his life. No, I exaggerate. But at least the time that he does spend there, he'll be a little bit more comfortable and BONUS it looks way better than our old one.

We celebrated by going to dinner at our FAVORITE place. Texas Roadhouse baby. We waited and hour and a half for our table but it was worth it. (FYI you can call ahead. We'll do that next time). We had a good time sitting and talking while we waited for our table.

The food was great and there was a ton of it but I got spilled on twice. That's right. Twice. The first was honey mustard on my skirt and the second was a tray of water into my lap. Nothing was ruined and we got dinner for free plus free dessert! So that was worth it.

We then went to pick up memory foam for the top of our mattress and new sheets with a new comforter set! We love the creams and browns and it was a good male/female compromise. Lilly has this thing were she likes to "help" us make the bed, meaning, she jumps up and chases the sheets and covers every where.

Speaking of our bed.... my mother took pitty on us and spent a lot of time finding us a new pillow top mattress and box spring! We are thrilled with them! Our bed feels SO much better. (Note: You probably don't need memory foam AND a pillow topper but Eric likes it).

This summer we've spent almost every Monday and Wednesday night playing tennis! We've gotten better at it and we feel happy that we are doing something active. We also played on some softball leagues this spring. My co-ed team won 2 games and Eric's took second in the league but I feel good about how I played. I got promoted (I don't know the sports termology) to 3rd baseman and I had some awesome catches. Too bad I can't hit very far and I usually get out at first. Eric did well. He's a good catch and he had some good hits too.

We also went camping a few times with the Keele's and the Hanson's. We love camping and we got our own cooler finally so there are only a few things left that we need but the stuff that we need is mostly for backpacking.

On our way to meet the Keele side of the family up the Santaquin Canyon we got into a car wreck. A truck came down too fast and came into our lane and hit us head on on the driver side. It was ok to drive but it was a pain to get it all taken care of. By the way, we really liked the Lindon Collision Repair if you need something fixed. They were super nice and even gave us a tour of the shop. They seemed really on top of things and the Xterra looks better than when we bought it.

This Eric pointing out the skid marks on the road for the accident to prove that we weren't at fault. I have no idea why Eric's knees are so dirty.

In more recent news, Eric and I have been looking at condos to buy! We are hoping to be in one by November. We will probably end up in the Ranches in Eagle Mountain or somewhere in Saratoga Springs. We talked to a lender and we are getting things rolling! Eric has found all kinds of optimism and motivation to get tons of hours at work to help us get into our own home and he's really excited about it. Especially because he might be able to get a new TV with the $8,000 tax credit we'll get. He's so cute. :)

My 23rd birthday is Saturday so we are planning some fun stuff! I'm meeting one of my best friends in the whole world in Layton to go shopping Thursday and then Friday we are celebrating my birthday because we work Saturday. So friday we are going to sleep in (YES) and then go to lunch at Zupas and then go shopping again! Boy do I LOVE shopping and I've missed it so much! Eric is being so sweet about it. He said he'll go anywhere with me and I can shop all day and he won't complain. Saturday after work we are going to dinner. I'm feeling the Olive Garden but I reserve the right to change my mind.

So, I'm sure I left out lots but I did my best. I hope ya'll are satisfied. I'm planning on blogging about my birthday but no promises. :) Loves!