Christopher & Melissa

Love, Cars, & Fairies

2014-03-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

Here is the update as promised J

Valentine’s Day

For Valentine’s Day we stayed home and made dinner & dessert from new recipes. We made a Black Bean & Quinoa Enchilada Bake and Gooey Chocolate Skillet Cookie Cake and they both were delicious!

We also wanted to watch a romantic movie too. However, when we Goggled “romantic” movies we were sad to see what others considered romantic. Many of the suggested movies had story lines that included people in affairs that chose to go back to their spouses instead of run away with their new love. How is that romantic?! To us, true romantic movies express the excitement of two people meeting and choosing a life together, the dedication of working together overcoming hard things, the devotion of remaining true & loyal through all times and seasons, and the commitment to cherish their marriage and relationship. We have begun search for great love movies :)

Big Blue

We bought a truck and we love him! We call him Big Blue and we are excited to take him camping & stargazing, to help others, and to use to tow cars to fix.

Trisha Trip

We also bought a new car, 2013 Acura TL named Trisha Lee.

We flew to Cleveland to get her so we were able to stop in and say hello to Alisha at Purdue and Kambrala in Omaha (and got to try an authentic Runza). It was great to see them but wished we could have stayed longer with both of them! We were able to listen to Harry Potter books 2 & 3 on the drive back too.

Eating a Runza

Fairy Tea Party

Lexi, Kyla, Mom, Kristin, Emilee, Tracy, Grandma Baum, and Melissa went to Fairy Tea Party at the Provo Library. It was magical to see all the cute little fairies learning how to fairy curtsy, watching the dancing fairies, walking in the fairy promenade, and eating their fairy snacks using their fairy manners.

2014 Borget Family Mexican Riviera Cruise

2014-01-26T19:11:00.003-07:00

We loved cruising with the whole Borget clan. We left out of Los Angeles and we sailed to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. We decided to try a room with a balcony and we loved it! It was so nice to be able to get some fresh air, see and hear the waves, and watch the sunrises and sunsets all from our room. While in LA we went to the Orange county swap meet, tried a new sushi restaurant, and strolled downtown Disney (the Lego statues at the Lego store were so cool).

Christopher eating fried octopus

Hulk statue

Statue of Lego Beauty & the Beast

We sat sail on the Carnival Miracle on Sunday afternoon. We explored the ship and ate our first meal in the dining room. It was fun to have Jack & Lexi with us too.

Boarding the ship

Lexi

Lexi, Grandma, and Jack at dinner the first night

View from our balcony

View from the walking track on top of the ship

The next day was our first "Day at Sea" and we took lots of naps and played lots of games. It was also our first Elegant night at dinner. It was fun to have time to dress up and eat good food.

Playing 5 crowns

View from our balcony

The first stop was Cabo San Lucas. We got on tender boats to take us to the shore. We had a great time walking around the shops and eating yummy tacos and chips and salsa at a restaurant on the pier.

With Jack

View from our room of Cabo

Lexi got her hair braided in Cabo

The next day we woke up in Puerto Vallarta. We went on a bus tour with Mom, Jamie, Kristin, Lexi, and Jack. We stopped at a few places to take pictures and shop and even saw a school. It was humbling to see how poor some of the people lived. It was nice to be in a warm place, but it was almost too warm and humid for us.

On the last stop, Jamie went bungee jumping. It was nerve-racking to watch him jump over the cliff into the ocean. Christopher wanted to eat some authentic Mexican food, but we settled for Dominos - we had to see if it tasted the same. Our last stop before getting back on the ship was Wal-Mart. It was mostly like any other Wal-Mart except for their meat & bakery sections. The meat was all laid out on ice and the bakery was so big! We bought lots of bread to take back with us to try.

Bread (pastries) Wal-Mart

Meat section at Wal-Mart

View from our balcony of Puerto Vallarta

Beautiful place

The rest of the trip we played games and ate alot! We celebrated Lexi's 9th birhday at sea too. It was nice to relax and have fun and be warm.

Birthday girl

Jack & Christopher

Christopher eating the chill soup

Last Dinner

Can't wait to be back on a balcony :)

Thank you Mom & Dad for taking us on this great trip!

We can't wait to book another one :)

2013 Recap

2014-01-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! We have not updated our blog since august. We have committed to be better at blogging and are going to be posting weekly so check back often! By means of repentance here are some pictures of the last part of 2013 to get us back on track.

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary in October. How fast time flies! At times it is hard to remember life without each other. We are sure happy that we found each other. We were lucky enough to have the amazingly talented Andrea Locke take some anniversary pictures for us.

For Christmas we stayed home in Utah and had a very simple Christmas in our new home.

Tuba Christmas

It was a great year!!!!!

Summer Update

2013-08-09T08:52:00.001-06:00

We've had a wonderfully busy summer!

Squaw Peak Hike

Lagoon

Grandpa & Grandma Egbert Visit

Grandpa Egbert

Add caption

Farrs

Drum Corp Show at Weber State

Celebrated 10 High School Reunion with a visit from Kambrala & Ellyn

(and we ran a half marathon together)

Kuhlenhoelter Family Reunion in Bear Lake

Hot Air Balloon Ride

Attempt #2 :(

It's been a GREAT summer!

Lehi Home

2013-08-09T07:50:00.000-06:00

Here are pictures of our new home in Lehi. We moved in at the end of June and we love it!

Closing Day :)

Final Walk Through

Here is your virtual tour!

Living Room - We Love our view of the Jordan River :)

Christopher's Shop :)

Upstairs (not shown: 2 bedrooms)

Loft

Backyard

Come Visit ANYTIME :)

LEHI HOUSE

2013-04-28T15:14:00.000-06:00

In January, Emilee (Christopher's little sister) got engaged to Ricky. Through the course of interesting events, Emilee & Ricky bought our house in Spanish Fork, we sold our rental house, and we decided to build a house in Lehi. Needless to say, January to April has been busy with wedding plans, packing, moving, and waiting. We are so excited for our new house and for wonderful in-laws who have graciously let us live with them until our house is finished in June.

Here are some pictures to show to process:

January 26

Christopher standing on the mound where our house will be built

March 27

Christopher standing where they dug the hole for the foundation

View from across the street of our hole

Walking on the River Trail behind our house

April 14

Christopher in the basement foundation

April 20

First floor framed - look at the garage!!!!

View of the river from our family room

April 25

Second floor framed

At the top of our stairs

Standing in our family room

April 27

Roof on!

Emilee & Ricky's Wedding

2013-04-28T14:48:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we went to Emilee & Ricky's wedding. It was a beautiful day! We love you, Emilee & Ricky!

On the way to the temple

Beautiful Bride, Emilee

Salt Lake City Temple

Yummy Cheesecake bites at the reception

Jamie & Ty

Christmas & Beginning of 2013

2013-04-28T14:43:00.002-06:00

We are a little behind in our blogging. We are going to try to catch up. Here we go...

In December, we celebrated Christmas by decorating our house, going to SLC with the Borget family to celebrate, and Christopher surprised Melissa with a surprise trip to Indiana.

Eating at Crown Burger

Temple Square

Exchanging presents

Our droopy willow tree :(

Gloria tree

Rosatree - Tree in our bedroom

Christmas quilt we made together

Christmas shopping at Traverse Mountain

We didn't tell anyone we were coming but just showed up on Christmas eve - it was a great surprise :) We had a great time with the family and even went to our first real hockey game.

Reading stories to the nieces

Saying goodbye to Elise

Cute Lily

At the Hockey game

Plane ride home

Here are some fun pictures of the beginning of the 2013 year including Lexi's baptism, Baby Ty being born, and Valentine's day!

Lexi's Baptism

Lexi, Grandma, Great Grandma, Great-great Grandma

Visiting the Farrs

Valentine's Day Pink Oreos

Valentine's Day flowers

Mom came to my first performance playing Euphonium

Euphonium time :)

Baby Ty was born

Frozen Yogurt

Melissa's Birthday & Halloween 2012

2012-11-06T11:48:00.004-07:00

We had a great time on my 28th birthday and I wanted to post some fun pictures of the day! Christopher spoiled me with a makeup mirror, nail polish rack, and new makeup and hair brushes. We both took the day off and enjoyed sleeping in, going to see a movie, and eating at Olive Garden. :)

For Halloween this year, we wanted to dress up as a couple. It is so hard to find good ideas that we can actually pull off. We decided to be Peeta and Katniss from the Hunger Games. We sprayed Christopher's hair blonde and my hair brown. We looked great, but the pictures do NOT do justice to how we really looked.

Can't believe it is November, but we are excited to start decorating our house for Christmas :)

Could Not Ask for More

2012-10-20T10:03:00.002-06:00

I did not quite understand the significance of that special day

From willfully independent to eternally united

I became part of something more than what I could be on my own

I became a wife

Nothing could have prepared me for that day

Or all the days to follow, I suppose

But hand in hand, excited and hopeful, we blissfully began this journey together

With each day and year, the significance of that special day sinks deeper into our souls

Through vigilant choices and actions

Together we bend heaven and earth to keep those special promises we made

We are becoming of one heart and one mind (united)

The future is unknown

But hand in hand, excited and hopeful, we happily continue this journey together

In reflection over the past two years, I seem to more profoundly understand the value of marriage and what my marriage means to me. One of the most touching explanation of marriage I have ever found is an article from Elle magazine a few months before our wedding. Entitled “Till Whatever Do Us Part” the author attempts to explore the meaning of a lifetime commitment in an age when instant gratification trumps endurance and our obsession with taking our “happiness temperature”.

“The point of living isn't to be in a perpetual state of fairy-tale ecstasy; it's to find the meaning of life, the meaning of your life. And the point of marriage, I think, is to create meaning, with every happy and sad memory, every hardship overcome, every kind act, every moment of acceptance, every triumph, every child, grandchild, pet, and friend you accumulate ¬together. The point of staying married until you die is to have a witness to your whole life, to the meaning you built. In the end, you can look at your spouse and say: Somebody knew me—and I knew them.”

Christopher, thanks for adding meaning to my life.

Happy 2nd Anniversary!!! I love you!

October Fun

2012-10-14T17:45:00.001-06:00

We can’t begin to express how much we REALLY love fall! We've been enjoying all that fall has to offer (expect the Fall Festival L). The last month has flown by but we have some fun pictures that we need to post so here goes!

We had a great day of celebrating Christopher by going to the Cheesecake Factory and making some yummy Snicker Salad. We had a great time!

Birthday Morning

Chopping up Snickers

Snicker Salad :)

(Christopher takes over…..)What do you get a person that buys everything he wants as soon as he wants it? All Christopher ever wanted was Melissa, so spending the day with her was the best birthday ever. He loves that this was his 3^rd birthday with Melissa and every birthday is better than the last. We started off going on a long walk, we love our walks together and just walked and walked with nowhere to go and nowhere to be. It was so wonderful. After the walk we made the yummy snicker salad and then Christopher went to Provo to run some errands while Melissa was getting ready for the rest of the day. When Christopher got home Melissa had gotten all GORGEOUS and was in her new dress. SHE LOOKED SO AMAZING AND ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! That night we went up to cheesecake factory and shared an amazing meal together. Christopher then purchased his birthday present “A Tablet” and we went on another walk. We then came home and played a game and just enjoyed the night together. What a wonderful birthday celebration!

Christopher's Birthday 2011

Christopher's Birthday 2012

Same Restaurant, Same Reason to Celebrate, Different Years :)

We have also really enjoyed taking Sunday Drives in our Lil Bug. Here are some pictures from Cascade Springs. Love the colors of the changing leaves!

What a HUNK!

On October 4th, one of our dear friends got married. We decided to celebrate the day by visiting the temple where we got married, the Oquirrh Mountain temple. Love that temple! Katie, we love you! You were a BEAUTIFUL bride :)

Joshua & Katie's Reception :)

We have also really enjoyed watching some marching bands performance at BYU stadium.

Once a band nerd, always a band nerd J

Goodbye summer, HELLO FALL!

2012-09-16T11:28:00.003-06:00

We love fall!

We welcome the cooler temperatures, changing leaves on our canyon drives, fun fall activities, and exciting things to celebrate. We've been busy with more home improvements, switching up our car lineup, going to the state fair, started reading a new book series, and surprising Christopher for his 30th birthday!

We decided to finally take the plunge and add concrete to the side of our house.

SO much nicer! No more mud or weeds!

In August, we (a.k.a Christopher) decided it was time for a change of cars. Christopher says he has a serious disorder where he doesn't like to hold onto cars for "too long" (in his book = usually a few months to a year). However, we've had Roxxie (our 2008 Acura TSX) since we meet (almost 2 years!). After driving many cars, we loved the 2010 Nissan Maxima because its very roomy, comfy, curvy, and POWERFUL. So Christopher found one online and bought it. He then flew to MICHIGAN to get it and drive it back home. He says it was totally worth it! We affectionately call her Keisha - cuz she's black and curvy :) Roxxie, we had some great times with you. You will be missed! Welcome to the family, Keisha!

Keisha & Roxxie

Recently, we started reading Harry Potter! For years, Melissa has refused to read the books (even though everyone in her family fought over who gets to read them first). When she met Christopher, she knew they were meant to be when she learned that he, too, had not read the books or seen the movies. After we got married, we started reading books together and loved it. Then Christopher suggested that we read Harry Potter. Although, Melissa was again reluctant, she thought that now maybe was HER time to experience Harry Potter with Christopher. We borrowed the first book from an excited Emily and read the it in 3 days! We are hooked! We loved watching the first movie and can't wait to read the rest of them!

We went to the Utah State Fair with Jamie, Kristin, Lexi, and Jack. We had a great time!

Lexi waiting to ride a pony.

Riding like a pro!

Petting the goats

Look at him go!

HELLO 3-0!

On Friday, September 14, Melissa planned a surprise birthday party for Christopher's 30th birthday! His birthday isn't until September 20th, but to throw him off, we planned it for the weekend before :) It was not an easy feat to keep secrets from Christopher since we do EVERYTHING together. Melissa had to be creative and do most of the planning during lunch time and breaks at work. Christopher was super surprised and overwhelmed when he saw everyone that had come to support him. He was speechless! He mustered out a meager "Woah" and had to go upstairs and change into clean clothes. When he got back, we had a pizza taste testing contest for him and played a trivia game with 30 questions about Christopher. We then had some amazing desserts including Emily's Reese's cheesecake, Allyson's Better than "Birthday" cupcakes (fondly known as Quickies :)), and Dana's brownie/cheesecake cupcakes. It was a hit!

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for everyone that came! It meant the world to Christopher!

Answering Trivia Questions

Birthday Pizza

"Hello 3-0!"

Sign Mom & Dad B gave Christopher - He loves it!

Thank you Melissa, for being my everything and making my birthday so special! You bring meaning to my life when it had none before! XOXOXO

We then went to Shaylin's wedding reception at Noah's. It was beautiful!

Got Keisha all washed

We hope you are enjoying fall as much as we are! :)

♫ As Long as You're Mine....♫

2012-07-25T19:50:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone!

Happy Summer! WAHOOO...this year is flyin' by! Here are some of the highlights of our summer thus far :)

Our Garden:

We were not going to work on putting in a garden this year, but the thought of home grown tomatoes and cucumbers convinced us to plant one. It started off a little slow, but before we knew it, we have bushes of tomato plants!

Melissa picking the first ripe one of the year!

Home Improvements:

We are constantly trying to do different things to our little house to make it more ours. We got our first piece of fine art (as mentioned in the last post) and we updated our laundry room. What do you think?

Automobile Changes:

Roxxie (our 2008 TSX Acura) went to the doctors for a good clean up. Since Christopher got her, she has acquired a few beauty marks including rock chips on the front bumper, a big chip out of the roof from a big rock on the freeway, and other scratches in the paint. Here is some pictures of the process...

But in the meantime, we get to drive around in Lil' Bug!!!

We wanted to get a motorcycle, but decided that this cute little Del Sol would do the trick for us :)

We have already enjoyed going camping with it and on a nice Sunday drive.

Lil' Bug

Lexi couldn't believe we bought her favorite kind of car!

WICKED

We also got the chance to go to WICKED at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City.

"You gotta get a bag!!!"

In our seats waiting for it to begin! :)

It was amazing! I am so glad that Emily and Andrew came with us! I can't wait to see it again!

Springtime at the Borget Home

2012-06-17T16:16:00.001-06:00

Hello Everyone! It seems like its been a while since we have blogged. We have continued to work on our home. The newest addition has been our cute patio furniture and a painting for our front room.

We love it!

Alisha also came for a visit in May.We love her! We went to a new mall in Salt Lake City, the City Creek Mall. It was fun to go shopping with my sisters again.

Alisha, Me, & Emily

Christopher is such a good shopper!

We have also really enjoyed going to all the homes of the Parade of Homes. We love going to look at some good ideas of how to make our house better and for future houses we may build. Here are some of our favorite features:)

Love the grand entry way

Christopher loves the waterfall features

A modern home decorated with a real plant wall. "Impressive"

Loved the huge shower!

On the 3rd floor putting green of one of the homes. Love the view!

We have also been able to go to our temple, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We love it there.

Temple where we got married :)

View from the temple entrance

Love the flowers

We have a lot of fun filled summer planned, so we'll have lots more to update on our blog. :)

Kite Flying!!!

Titanic Murder Mystery Dinner

2012-04-15T20:25:00.000-06:00

Last fall We went to a murder mystery dinner hosted by our friends Michael and Julie. It was so much fun. We then decided that we should do our own. After much thought and searching we decided to do a Titanic Murder Mystery dinner on the 100^th anniversary of the titanic sinking. We had a lot of fun. We dressed up and ate lots of delicious food. We had Christopher’s sister Emilee and Melissa’s brother Jonny be our servers.

Captain Jordan & Emma

Katie & Joshua

Andrew & Emily

It was such a fun night!

Spring Break Family Visit!!!!

2012-04-01T10:28:00.000-06:00

We love when family comes to visit! The Heckert Family (and Grandma & Grandpa) came to visit for Spring Break. It was a busy week with lots of fun things to do!

Christopher loved spending time with Drew and Dad. They went to eat sushi and shoot guns.

We also celebrated Drew's birthday by going to the Malt shop.

Emily & Lily :)

Papa & Melanie

The girls loved playing with each other. They are all growing up so fast!
Grandma made the girls matching Easter dress. We tried to get a group picture, but as you can see, there was a lot going on!

Meg & Mel

Kate & Lily

Unsuccessful attempt....

Kate & Madeline

The babies, Elise & Madeline

Almost got it :)

We love our family! Can't wait for the next time!!!!!

Christopher & Elise

Las Vegas Trip!

2012-03-12T18:02:00.001-06:00

This past weekend we went to Vegas!

Melissa ran the Red Rock Half Marathon in Vegas on Saturday. It was a very hilly course climbing about 1500 feet! On the plus side, the weather was beautiful and the scenery was gorgeous!

Home stretch!!

While we were there, we walked around on the Strip including a stop at the Pawn Stars pawn shop, the M&M Factory, the Luxor, and some of the newer hotels and casinos.

Outside of the Coke Store

Christopher is trying to do what the Yellow M&M is doing :)

"What I could do with all of these M&Ms!"

IT'S BUMBLE BEE!!!!

The front of a clothing store with hundreds of sewing machines :)

Outside the Luxor

It was a fun trip, but we are happy to be back home!

We bought a HOUSE!

2012-02-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

We now live in Spanish Fork!

We closed on Tuesday and by that night we had ripped out the carpet (thanks to Jamie’s help J), took off all the outlet and light covers, and taped up the whole house to be ready to paint. Wednesday Christopher painted all day long while Grandpa Baum worked on putting up shelves in our master bedroom and stairs going into our cold storage. Thursday Christopher (with Brett’s helpJ) started putting in the hardwood floors and took many trips to the drop off trash and junk that was left behind in the house. Friday Melissa started cleaning out the apartment and taking trips to the house while the carpet was put in and Christopher continued working on the hardwood floors (with Dad Borget's expertise and determination). Then Saturday we moved all the rest of the things from the apartment over. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your help Jonathan, Jamie, Rob, and Mom! We then worked hard to get everything into place on Saturday and Sunday to be ready to go back to work on Monday. WHAT A WEEK!

Right after Closing :) We are offically homeowners!!

The first of MANY trips to Home Depot

Here are a few before and after pictures to let you see all the work that was put into the house!

BEFORE

AFTER

We love the hardwood floors :)

We got a big Monster Sac! It's super comfy!

It was tons of work but so worth it! Stop by and see us anytime!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

From our first cruise together (see March blog) , getting good ideas at the parade of homes, a quick trip to Indiana for the Fall Festival (see October blog), reading the Hunger Games (and anxiously awaiting for the movie to come out in March), and conquering our first year of marriage, we have had such a fun and busy 2011!

We have so much to be thankful for :)

This is our cute little Christmas tree. We love it!

(Thanks Grandma Baum for all your help in teaching us how to really decorate trees :)

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and the happiest New Year!

We love you all!

OCTOBER 2011

2011-10-27T19:12:00.000-06:00

October has been a really fun and really busy month filled with a trip to Indiana, celebrating our anniversary, and Melissa’s birthday!

We were so glad that we got to visit Indiana and see some of our friends and family. Christopher also got to experience the legendary Fall Festival. (For those who haven’t had the opportunity to attend the Fall Festival, you are missing out on a whole mile worth of booths full of FOOD!) We were in a constant state of full the whole week! We ate many Monster Ears, a few Texas tenderloins, fried s’mores, Stromboli’s, meatball sandwiches, walking tacos, corn on the cob, bacon wrapped jalapenos, and Christopher even tried a Brain Sandwich! We loved spending time with Kate, Lily, and Elise (and the older people too!) and we already miss them so much!

We also LOVE having family close too! We were able to celebrate Emily's birthday this month!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Emily had a few helpers :)

Madeline smiling at Jonny

Christopher & Jack are matching!

We celebrated our 1^st anniversary! What a wonderful year! Christopher surprised me at work with a beautiful bouquet of star gazer lilies. They smell so good! I also gave Christopher a notebook that I wrote in during the whole first year of marriage. He really liked it, I think :). It really has been a wonderful year of being married! And the best is yet to come!

And I had a great birthday! Christopher bought me a whole new set of makeup brushes from MAC, new hair brushes, and new Love Rocks lotion and spray! He really spoiled me by sending her to work with a bag of goodies, bringing me lunch from Zupas, and getting ingredients to make me a yummy cake! It is great to have Christopher to celebrate with!

✮ BIRTHDAYS! (and other adventures) ✮

2011-09-25T13:52:00.000-06:00

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!! I know you are thinking, no, not quite Christmas yet. But we love autumn! We love when the air starts to turn brisk and the leaves start to change colors.

Christopher and I have made some fun new recipes including homemade pizza, sour cream enchiladas, crock pot roast and peach cobbler.

We love living close to some of our nieces (we just wish we lived close to ALL our cute nieces!!). Elizabeth and her family welcomed a new baby girl, Madeline. She is so sweet!

Birthday Banner Melissa hung up above Christopher's bench at work.

Christopher turned 29 years old! We had a great day! We went to the Cheesecake Factory to eat and then to the Hales Center Theatre to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was fun day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTOPHER!

☀We love Summer!☀

2011-07-12T17:43:00.001-06:00

We got to go to a professional marching band Drum Corp show last week! We loved it! It was fun explaining all the technical aspects of marching band to Christopher as we watched the performances. The sound was amazing! We had great seats right on the 50 yard line.

Our favorite show to watch was the Blue Devils (but it's hard to have a favorite when they are all so good!)

Satisfied Audience :)

And we went to Bear Lake! It was a much needed vacation! We rode our bikes, went running, went boating, took naps in the hammocks, and enjoyed the nightly campfire. And we especially loved spending time with our family! Can't wait to go next year!

We rode our bikes into IDAHO!

Relazing in the Hammock :)

Can you see the rainbow in the backgroung??

Friends

2011-06-24T10:39:00.000-06:00

I wish people would tell you what they want or need you to do. I hate sitting back and watching friends go through hard times. I rack my brain to try to figure out what to do. Send an encouraging, “You can do it” email? Call them and leave a message letting them know that you were thinking of them? Make them cookies? Set up a time to hang out? It is so hard to know. My intent is not to bother them or give them someone else to stress about. I just want to be there for them.

The problem is that we are all different and our needs/wants greatly vary. But all people, no matter how similar they may seem, are so different! Yet we are all the same. We all want someone to care and magically be able to know what we need of them as friends. But most of the time we don’t even know what will make us feel better.

But the truth is, there are important moments in each of our lives when we need to cry ourselves to sleep, hash it out to our journal, or just think about what is going on in our lives by ourselves. We must pass through these hard times alone. It’s a time where we grow and progress, or at least put ourselves back together.

So I conclude that “being there for them” means that we are willing and ready to help them when they are ready for you. This means you might have to sit back and watch them struggle and cry. As much as I want to, I can not force my “help” on them.

Therefore, my dear friends, here is my commitment to you:

“I care about you. I want to be there for you. I don’t like to see you sad. I know that you might not know what to tell me to do to help you feel better, but I’ll try as many things until you do. I’ll talk through what is worrying you until we’re blue in the face (and then some). I’ll take you out to dinner so you can feel spoiled and eat some good food. I’ll give you hugs and tell you that you are good enough and let you cry. I’ll sit and watch a funny movie with you to help you forget about how you feel. I’ll put on my running shoes and run a few miles with you until you feel better. Or if you just need time to yourself, know that I’ve been praying for you and wishing you the best. Just know that I love you and I am ready to do whatever it takes to make you feel better. I'm here.”

“What’s New with YOU?”

2011-06-05T00:20:00.000-06:00

First of all, we would like to apologize for not updating our blog for quite a while. We appreciate the chance to keep up to date with all of you, and we know how antsy we get when people we love (YOU!) do not update for MONTHS! So, we will try harder to be better at keeping those we love informed on what we are up to. We have kept ourselves busy these past few weeks. We both have logged countless hours at work. But we are grateful for our weekends together where we can recharge and get things done.

Since the weather has tried to be nicer, we have been able to start hiking. We love it! A few weekends ago, we went on a fun night hike with our friends Curtis & Shae. It was such a beautiful night! We can’t wait to do more of that kind of outdoorsy things this summer.

We planted our first garden! It’s so cute! We went to the plant store and we were astonished at all the different kinds of tomatoes there were! We decided to get three different kinds and experiment a little. We also go some cucumbers and peas. We are now eagerly waiting for them to be ready to eat. We’ll keep you updated!

We have also been working hard to get into shape and take advantage of being able to run outside now. We don’t exactly LOVE running, but we do enjoy doing it together and feel the results of a good workout. We are signed up to run a 5k at the end of the month. Here’s the link if you feel like joining us!

http://intermountainhealthcare.org/communitysupport/giving/uvfoundation/events/af-half-marathon/pages/race.aspx

This past weekend we went up to Green River, Wyoming. Christopher worked on many sewing machines to make all the quilters in Wyoming happy again. There was a big quilting convention called “Quilting on the Green” and so there were lots of sweet ladies waiting for their machines to work smoothly again. While we were there, we were invited to a thing called a “Trunk Show”. Melissa thought that Christopher would enjoy this event and said that we are excited to go only to find out it was a few ladies showing off many of their quilts. Surprisingly, it was pretty interesting. Here are a few that caught our attention.

We’ve also been experimenting with some new recipes. The latest and greatest one that we have made is Pig Cake. It is easy to make and deliciously good. Melissa got the recipe from the Pioneer Woman website. We just love it! You’ll have to check it out and try some of the recipes for your self. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/pig-cake/

That's all for now. Check back soon because we have lots of fun things planned.

Refinishing Our Piano

2011-04-09T12:29:00.000-06:00

We have refinished our piano! It was a LONG process, but now it is over! We bought the piano in December, but we knew that it would be quite the process and we finally set aside time to get it done. When we first bought the piano, we envisioned stripping off all the paint and staining the wood.

*We searched for a "before" piano shot, but we don't have one. sorry!*

We spent hours and hours stripping the 5 layers of paint off, sanding down the wood, priming the wood to be painted, and then painting two coats of paint and replacing all the tops of the keys. However, we quickly realized that it had so many different colors of wood. We then decided to paint it black. The construction site took over our kitchen.

Outside to use the sander

Inside our kitchen ready to be primed

Primed :)

However, with our hands busy, we were able to listen to the prophets and apostles of God speak to us in General Conference. We loved the talks and loved learning new things to work on. We are excited to use the talks for our FHE lessons for the next six months. We are so grateful to have continuing revelation from our Heavenly Father to guide and direct us in this crazy, yet wonderful life.

We wearingly finished the last coat of paint and were grateful for the chance to make some good process on the piano. It was a good experience in which we were again reaffirmed that we work really good together as a team and that sometimes we bit off a little more than we should.

We are happy to have our piano back.