Extreme Couponing and other news

Life has been really busy! I am now working full time at a hospital! I am still in training, and it is hard, but hopefully it will get better.

We also took a last minute trip to see Cameron is California! I will do a separate post about that, but I am waiting to post when I have pictures.

For a few months now we have been couponing. Yes, think extreme couponing! We have become quite the professionals! I have found some amazing deals and phrases such as "money-maker" and "free" frequent our house!!



I can't remember exactly how much this one was...but less than 25 cents! All the pastas-TEN pasta packages...were free! The pastas were originally $2.50 each!!



This is six, YES SIX hallmark birthday cards and 7 packs of gum for 31 cents!!!

I don't want to brag...but I am an amazing couponer!! It is one of my favorite hobbies! :-) It is fun and I am saving our family tons of money!

Bellagio Fountains, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire

VALLEY OF FIRE- Adam and Lise came to Vegas for an anniversary visit! It was so much fun having them here! We went to the cirque show Mystere and then out to dinner on tuesday night. It was also a celebration because I just got a job at a hospital here! We were having so much fun and decided we should go check out the bellagio fountains! Lise and I were to jump out of the car and the boys would go park...unfortunately Lise's hand got shut in the car door! It was very traumatic, but thanks to cabowabo we were able to clean up the mess and get some ice. The next day we went out to the Valley of Fire. It is a very amazing, beautiful place filled with red rock! We hiked around and enjoyed ourselves!





HOOVER DAM- Jeffrey and I went to check out the Hoover Dam a while ago. It is impressive and huge!! Next time we want to take the tour!



BELLAGIO FOUNTAINS- Mom came for a quick 24 hour visit! One of the places we stopped was the fountains! It is one of my favorite things here in Vegas. We were so excited for Mom to come. She was our first guest!

Las vegas open house!

We had a wonderful open house in Vegas. My blog posts are going to be short because im trying to document a lot of things in a short amount of time. we do not have the internet at our condo...hence the lack of blog posts!

Amazing pics by Brittany Meng!

wedding pictures!

The Honeymoon

Week 1: Hawaii
Saturday: Arrived in honolulu rented our car, and got a hotel upgrade!

Sunday: Went to church at the Honolulu Tabernacle! It was very cool and the people were very welcoming. They were very excited that we were on our honeymoon! Then we drove around the Island and enjoyed the beauty! We at our picnic dinner at the beach that overlooks china mans hat.

Monday: Polynesian Culture Center! It was awesome! We went around with a tour guide and saw all the cool shows! We had the best seats for everything! During the day we had 3 pineapple delight desserts! 1. They were really good. 2. It was reallllly hot and we needed to cool off! We took a canoe ride and saw the evening show Ha, Breath of life. it was so good! We really enjoyed our day there!

Tuesday: Went to costco to buy a few food supplies for the rest of the honeymoon. Went to the beach. Jeffrey snorkeled around and I read on the beach. That night we went to cheesecake factory for dinner.

Wednesday: We hiked Diamond head and went to the beach. We did a lot of playing at the beach! We got a salad to go from CPK and went to a super yummy ice cream place!

Thursday: We went to the Laie temple and visitors center. After that we went to sunset beach. Then we went to Haleiwa Eats for dinner on the north shore. On our way home we stopped at walmart to pick a few last minute things for our trip to Fiji.

Friday: We spent the entire day at hanamua bay. We snorkeled and played on the beach! It was beautiful. Before our flight left, we grabbed dinner at PF changs and icecream one more time.

Week 2: Fiji

We lost a day getting there...

Sunday: jet lagged, lost, and very confused in a foreign country. We are lucky we made it to our hotel and slept the entire day. It poured rain...drops the size of dimes, all day long!

Monday: We ventured out in the city and went to Port Denarau. It was cloudy and rainy that day too. We visited some resorts. We walked through some neighborhoods. And got our bearings driving on their roads.

Tuesday: We went to a time share presentation to get some free tickets to an island excursion. After that we went to Natadola Bay. It was a gorgeous beach! But getting there was crazy! We were driving on these dirt roads that were one way and were halfway flooded!! We were not sure if we were on the right road...but we were!

Wednesday: Natadola Bay again. It was that good.

Thursday: Sleeping Giant- This orchid farm that has over 2000 species of orchids! They had all these walkways and it was really beautiful! We checked out the village life too.

Friday: South Sea Island excursion. This is where the pictures come from! it was this tiny little island that we were dropped off at for the day. We went snorkeling, sea kayaking, and sailing! We loved it there.

Saturday: Bounty Island excursion. We felt like we were the only people on the island. we had a little bure and beach chairs to lounge in. We read books and just relaxed. Jeffrey went snorkeling.

Sunday: Church in Fiji was amazing! We had the best time there. Everyone was so happy we were there and so welcoming! We participated in everything and they kept calling Jeffrey Vegas boy. We flew out Sunday night. Because of the international date line...we hit sunday again when we arrived in Hawaii. We missed our flight and had to pay lots more money, but we were finally able to get a flight home! We had been traveling for 24+ hours!

The Wedding!!

There is so much to say, and I don't want to miss a thing. But to sum it up, it was the PERFECT day!!

Tuesday: Bachelorette Party. The party started by getting manis and pedis which is always enjoyable and i wish i got to do it more often! Lise, Katie and Kali were all there and it was really fun. While Lise was out at my party, Jeffrey took her boys to have a Bachelor party with them. Then we met up with Brandi and headed into Seattle for such a delicious dinner!! I was all dressed up in decorations made by Kali and Katie. It was pretty funny, and then everyone else wore these hilarious buttons like bad girl and bachelorette party. Then we hit up the yummiest yogurt place in Seattle! The party came to a close by watching the justin bieber movie at Katie's place. This really kicked off the wedding festivities!

Wednesday: Photo Shoot. Jeffrey and I decided to take most of our pictures around Seattle before the wedding for less stress on the day of. The day was spent getting hair done, last minute lip gloss colors, and makeup. I felt so beautiful when I put my dress on. I looked exactly how I wanted to look-a classic beauty. My hair was AMAZING! It could not have been better! The weather was perfect for us during out photo shoot, and our photography Maria Wood was able to get sooo many great shots! I love our pictures! We took pictures for 5 hours or something crazy like that, and then headed home to get some food. Cameron and my cousin Jane had arrived and it was so fun to see them. Kali came along on the photoshoot to help. My mom and Bryson came to part of the photo shoot as well to check things out! I was so glad we took pictures before!

Thursday: Thursday was the wedding dinner. It was supposed to be outside at this beautiful marina, but the weather was so finicky. We were not sure what to do, it was raining, then the sun would come out....you get the idea. We finally just decided to move the dinner to our house which turned out great! We were able to do appetizers and mingling outside, and then came inside for the dinner and speeches. Jeffrey and I gave a joint speech. I talked about how things had come full circle from the time that we had met at the Seattle temple a little over three years earlier. It was so amazing that so many people were able to be at the dinner and that I knew every single one of them and had spent time with each of them! The food was sooo amazing, I wanted to eat so much more, but could not for fear that my dress would not fit the next day! Everyone left and Jeffrey and I received blessings, said goodbye, and hit the sack. And by hit the sack I mean i could not sleep a wink the whole night!!

Friday: Wedding day! I got up at 6Am to jump in the shower. I did a little of my makeup and then headed to my hair appointment. Katie and Kali surprised me at the hair appointment which was really fun. The hair appointment ran late of course, so i raced home because it was time to leave for the temple! I did not have time to finish my makeup, and i wish i had because i looked a little white because i didn't have any bronzer on yet. Jeffrey and I drove to the temple together and we were excited and nervous. My mom helped me get ready and i was able to finish my makeup there at the temple. The sealing was really wonderful. I was really touched by everyone that could be there. Coming out of the temple was very fun and Jeffrey and I hammed it up! There were hugs and pictures galore! When pictures were wrapping up, box lunches were passed out for everyone to eat. It started to sprinkle and I started to panic a little! (my dress was silk) I was wrapped up in a sheet and the photographers jacket. Luckily Jeffrey pulled up and I jumped in the car. We just relaxed for a few hours before the reception. Before the reception we took more pictures. The reception was beautiful! We stood on a line greeting everyone, while the guests ate at had italian sodas. My family helped so much manning the music and doing the drinks! Not to mention all of the set up! Jeffrey and I cut the cake, which was just what I wanted- a cake covered in white chocolate curls! We served that cake and the carrot cake that Jeffrey and I had picked a few months prior. The carrot cake was the same cake/recipe that my mom and dad had at their wedding!! Then my dad and I had our dance. About half way through Jeffrey cut in and we danced our first dance. Then the dance party began! Thank you lady ga ga for getting the party started-The edge of glory. I had SO much fun dancing! It was one of my favorite parts! We made our exit with tons of family and friends to find a mercedes waiting for us!! We pulled away in a red sports car!! It was so great to celebrate with so many family and friends! I could not believe how many people were able to come!

The next day Jeffrey and I were dropped off at the airport for our honeymoon!

I have tried two time now to attach pictures, but its not working. I will try again later!

wedding...its coming

I know. I know. I need to blog about the WEDDING and HONEYMOON and MOVING TO VEGAS.

I will shortly.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of FIJI!!!

the past two months

Obviously I have been slacking at the blog posts. Its not for lack of exciting things, because there have been lots of exciting things.

1. Graduation. I graduated with my second bachelors degree! WOOHOO! I can't believe I pulled of Magna Cum Laude...I lost a little motivation there at the end going to school full time, working full time, and having to do clinical! The graduation celebrations were very fun and festive! Jeffrey came up and we had a family dinner prepared by Mom and Dad over at John's house. The food was great and we had red velvet cake (almost the winner of the wedding cake, but lost out to carrot). We had to call it an early night because my graduation was at 8AM the next morning! Mom, Dad, Jeffrey, Grams, and Lani all made it out to the graduation. We had a delicious lunch after that!



2. Bridal Showers. I had two very fun bridal showers! The first one was at a restaurant! How classy is that!? It was really fun seeing people that I don't get to see very often but that I love and respect so much! The second one my friend Becca gave. She did an amazing job making desserts and decorating her apartment! I felt so loved by all my friends!

3. Dress fitting, bridal pictures, and other wedding plans. After many dress fittings, the dress fit...and then I took my bridals. See mariawoodphotography.com if you are interested. My roommate Cassie came along and was an amazing help fixing my train just right!

4. Vegas Trip. My roommates Shay and Amber roadtripped it down to Vegas for a fun memorial weekend! We laid by the pool, ate chocolates, laughed, and talked. We rode the big shot and saw Le Reve. It was amazing!! The show was an hour and half but felt so much shorter! We were second row and could even see their facial expressions. The car ride was also enjoyable singing to every song we heard!

5. Moving...I have been slowly moving stuff for the past 2 months down to vegas. Now the last few things are left. Packing is hard for me because I feel like I need things out-such as towels, blankets, deodorant...how can I pack when I am still using these items!

6. Last Day of Work. I decided that I am going to be a little on the picky side and try to find a job that I love. It makes work so much more enjoyable when you are excited to be there and love the people you work with. I loved my co-workers at my last job. I grew to be such good friends with them. Some of them even came to my bridal shower. I will really miss some of my patients too. It was hard on my last night saying goodbye to the long-term patients. I wanted to cry when the sweetest little lady was saying how much she loved me. I told her that there would be other nurses here to take care of her, but she just kept saying that no one cared for her like I did. It makes all the hard work worth it when you know that someone appreciated you. I always brought her in applesauce to eat in the mornings (read 4:30AM) and then would help her situate her baby doll in bed. (It is pretty precious seeing an 80 something year old care for a baby doll like its a real baby. Or seeing one elderly person pushing another person in a wheelchair on a walk).

Jeffrey has been up a few times which is always wonderful! Since making my decision to marry him I feel like I love him more deeply than I did before. He is truly my best friend and companion. Through thick and thin, I can always count on Jeffrey. Just a little story...the day of my bridals my roommate who had been planning to help out with the pictures had to cancel last minute. I called/text a bunch of people to see if anyone else could come help. No one could. One roommate I never heard back from. When Jeffrey got to my house I just cried and cried that no one could help and that I needed him to come to the shoot to help. I had really hoped that Jeffrey would not see me in my dress until the wedding, and that is why I was crying so much. Jeffrey just said he would love to help and would situate my train and whatever else I needed. While I went to get my hair done, Jeffrey went to pick up my bouquet. Even though this was a little thing, it reaffirmed to me that Jeffrey will be by my side forever, no matter what. LUCKILY...while I was getting my hair done, one of my roommates got back to me and said she could make it to the photo shoot! She was amazing! I was so thankful and she was so complimentary of me and great! She helped me into and out of the dress, situated it for the pictures, carried the train, and did whatever else the photographer needed!

Engagement Photos: Preview

Hello there. We had the amazing Maria Wood take our engagement pictures this weekend! She posted a little preview for your enjoyment! Please, head over to her website and take a look!

www.mariawoodphotography.com

She is awesome!! I love working with her and the pictures are exactly what I was hoping for! She is also going to do my bridals/wedding in Seattle! I can't wait! She is based here in Utah, but is totally open for travel...so if you are looking for someone I would totally recommend her! I met Maria at one of my best friends weddings, Becca. During the reception I noticed how awesome the bridal pictures were that were up and asked Becca who did her pictures! Then I got to chat with Maria at the reception....long story short, I booked Maria and I have been so happy since!

So go check them out and then comment about how cute Jeffrey and I are!...obviously I am a little biased...I think he is the handsomest man in town! :-)

IM GETTING MARRIED!!

Well, as most of your already know, I am ENGAGED!! Yes this has been a long time coming and I feel great about it! I love that we have dated for a long time and that I am sure about this next step!

So it is brag time about Jeffrey. Just so everyone else can know how wonderful he is. Hopefully he will not be embarrassed as I boast his accomplishments! First, he is such a hard worker. He never loved school, and most people told him that he was not good at it. (I wouldn't like school either under those circumstances) But he went to college and rocked it! He worked hard in his classes and got really good grades! He graduated with a business management degree CUM LAUDE! He worked hard and deserved that recognition! He is so smart at math and even tutored during college! He is an active learner. He wanted to start a garden, but was not sure how to go about it in the Las Vegas heat. He spent time researching about what would grow and when to plant. Next he is a handy-man. He can fix everything and he is always willing to help! He helped my Uncle Joe fix my grandma's disposal. He knows how to fix sprinkler systems and fixed my grandma's and showed my sister in law how to fix theirs. He won't call his landlord when the toilet breaks, he will head down to home depot, get the supplies and then fix it himself! My head light was out, and it was really tricky on how to get it off to replace the light bulb. With the help of my brother in law via the phone, Jeffrey was able to figure it out! Jeffrey is service oriented. He gives rides to several different people to church and to family home evening. Even when they do not live close to him and it is not that convenient. He is always happy to do the dishes and he is really good at them too. (I am so glad because I think dishes is one of my least favorite chores) During Christmas we had already picked out lots of presents for my parents, but Jeffrey wanted to get one more to make sure they knew how much we appreciated them. Lastly, he is a great breakfast maker! Jeffrey makes my favorite waffles from scratch! On Valentine's day he made pancakes for all his siblings (from scratch) and even added food coloring to make them pink! He makes good eggs, bacon, and sausage. He never forgets juice either! I love it when he makes breakfast!

Hopefully you have caught of glimpse of how wonderful and good Jeffrey is. I am really excited about spending the rest of my life (and eternity, yes we will be sealed in the Seattle temple) with him.

So here is the engagement story and a few pictures!

It was no surprise we were getting engaged because we had already picked the ring out together. But Jeffrey was waiting for the right time. He asked my Dad for permission (or something like that, permission, blessing, I don't know exactly what he said) over Christmas. Which was kind of funny because we were all just waiting for them to come out of the office! They went in when we were all hanging out in the family room so it was totally obvious what was going on. My brother in law Adam snapped a picture just as Jeffrey walked out of the door. It is priceless!

So Jeffrey asks me on a date for Friday night and says to be ready by 4:50. Of course I was ready on time...but 4:50 rolls around and there is not sight of Jeffrey!! He was trying to pick up his brother from baseball practice, but the practice was running long! Anyway...Jeffrey finally comes and picks me up and we are off. Long story short we get to this look out place in Las Vegas where you can see the temple and the strip. It is so pretty when everything is lit up. This is "our" little spot we like to go. So we pull up there and of course I know what is about to happen. Jeffrey turns on some music and then hike up the hill to get to our spot. The sun is setting and Jeffrey asks me to dance. We like to dance-we dance in the kitchen, at the park, wherever! So we are dancing and Jeffrey tells me that he loves me and wants to spend eternity with me...and a few other mushy things... He then proceeds to get down on one knee and ask me to marry him. (His brother in law Dustin was there to snap a few photos, but we just got a few because Jeffrey was so fast. He was down on one knee one second and standing the next!) Anyway, I say yes! and then Jeffrey answers back Thank You. I don't know what other guys say, but thank you was so funny to me! That is something funny I will always remember about the proposal. So then we take some pictures together and head off to dinner! We went to dinner at the Grand Luxe Cafe and we had a celebration! We got fun drinks and delicious food! Seriously, my food was SO SO SO good! It was just fun to be together and i kept looking at the beautiful ring on my finger! After dinner we headed to the New York New York hotel to go on the roller coaster! I LOVE rides, always have, and hopefully always will! As we were walking off the roller coaster we found some change and played my favorite arcade game ski-ball at "coney's island" at the hotel. And that was the night. We headed home after that and hung out with the family.

A few days later when I returned to Provo, he sent me flowers! The ring is gorgeous. It is a simple solitaire and I love it. It could not be more sparkly. Pictures don't even do it justice-it practically glows in the dark! And it just feels right to have something on my finger. I don't know if i can explain it, but my finger feels naked with out a ring on it. Like it just belongs there!

Dancing



Popped the question! I said YES!



So there you have it! We are getting married in the Seattle Temple on June 24th!

Breakfast of Champions and Other News

I LOOOVE Wheaties. I am ALWAYS in the mood for a bowl of Wheaties.
I bought 10 boxes for 17 dollars! Is that a steal or what! I wish I had bought 20 boxes at that deal!

4 nurses were laid off at my facility. I am so grateful/thankful that I still have a job. I still love working nights- besides that fact that I now have trouble sleeping at night. (I can sleep anytime during the DAY though) I feel a lot of job satisfaction too. I feel like I really get to make a difference in people's lives. I try really hard to spend a little time with each patient talking with them about other things besides medicine and treatments. Being a nurse is a really hard job too sometimes (almost always)-physically and emotionally. It can be so stressful and you don't get to go the bathroom or eat and your back and legs hurt all the time.

I bought some songs on iTunes with some giftcards I got. Its really fun to have new music to listen to! Speaking of music-I got a keyboard for my birthday! It is very fancy and has its own stand!

I got my face lasered for some left over acne scarring on my cheeks! I have been wanting to do it for a long time. They don't really bother anyone else, but they bug me. A few years ago when I was having a particularly bad bout with acne I got a blessing. It wasn't about my acne, it was just a back to school one, but I remember one part talking about how my face would heal completely and look like it did before I was having acne problems. I was kind of surprised about that being said because I was not expecting it. Anyway, the point is it's amazing how life works and that all these years later I am now actually fixing those scars! One treatment down...a few more to go.

And lastly...I am in love. Just in case you were wondering.

christmas, work. school.

I had 1 month off from school. PERFECT...oh wait, I have a job! It was really nice not having to go to school, but reality hit as I could not take off for home for all of my school break. I had to work! Somehow I was lucky enough to get Christmas Eve AND Christmas off!

We had such a great time! I loved spending time with my family and Jeffrey for the holidays! One of the high lights was rock climbing with the fam! I think that maybe it should be a new tradition!

School starts in a couple of days. One more semester to go until I have a bachelors of nursing! I am really glad I did it when I did. I have no regrets, but I am anxious for it to be over. It is going to go by fast! April 29th (graduation) here I come!

My birthday is in a week. I will be 24. Did anyone picture me being where I am, at 24? I certainly did not. Life is amazing!


Picture: Jeffrey and I on Christmas Eve right after an Elf left us PJs!