Hello!

Hi! No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, I am actually updating this blog! The past 6 months have been a little on the crazy side, and to be honest with you, we do a lot of fun things, but we are AWFUL at remembering to bring our camera. I think blogs can be a lot more entertaining to read if they have pictures to go along with them, and since we don't have any pictures, I don't want to bore you all of the time! Here is an update on some of the highlights from the past 6 months:



For Memorial Day my friend Katrina and I went up to Idaho for the long weekend. It was a fun girl's road trip! It was fun taking her to Idaho, she had never been there before. We drove up to Salt Lake, spent the night, then did some shopping in Park City (what's a girl's trip without shopping? seriously!), then we headed up to Idaho. We got to spend two days with my family. We met up with my extended family in Swan Valley to help clean out my grandparents home, and then on Sunday we drove up Jackson Hole. Very quick trip, but it was good to be in Idaho, even if it was for just a few days!



July was fun, my little sister, Brett, landed a job down here and so her and my mom came down to get her moved in and settled into her new house. It's fun to have her down here, and it is so nice to have some family here again. It's been just Andy and I ever since Dave and Trin moved to Nebraska. :(



In August, Andy and I got to go home to Idaho for some more family time! We got to spend a few days with my family, then we got to go up to West Piney, and spend a week with his family! It was so fun to see everyone and spend some good quality time with them all. We are so lucky to come from such good families. I am so lucky to have married into such an awesome family, I'm looking forward to more reunions in years to come!



While we were in Idaho, in August, Andy celebrated his 30th birthday! My mom made him an awesome lasagna dinner, then Aaron, Keyli, and kids came over to celebrate with all of my family (excluding Brett and Zane). We had awesome homemade ice cream!



We hit another milestone in September, my 30th birthday! We are getting old, but I am glad to say that I will always be younger then my husband! We went out to dinner, Brett made a delicious chocolate cake, and I got some good presents! Low-key, but perfect.



October was fun too! Andy had to go to Orlando, Florida for a week for business and I got to tag along! The first two days there he had to work, so I just hung out at the hotel. I read, watched movies, and slept. It was awesome! When he got home from work we would go explore the town. The Friday we were there we went out to Cocoa Beach. We stayed just long enough for me to get a serious sunburn, but it was still fun. The water was so warm! After we got done with the beach we went to Andy's oldest brother's house, Evan and Ruth and family. They made us a fantastic steak and shrimp dinner with all of the fixings! Then they took us out to the marsh to watch the sunset and look for alligators. We didn't see any alligators, but did come across two water mocassins. It was my first time meeting them, and they were so great! We both loved them and are looking forward to seeing them again, hopefully soon! ;) Saturday of our trip we made it to Walt Disney World! Wow! What a place! We decided to get the 1-Day hopper pass and so if you can only imagine, it was a crazy day! We managed to make it to 3 of the parks: Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom didn't close until 1:00 in the morning, so we utilized the Fast Passes and made our way to all of the good rides! So fun! I flew out that morning at 5:00 am, so basically zero sleep for me, while Andy stayed 3 more days for work! Very fun last minute trip!



A few days after we got back, Andy had a job interview for a manager position at Walgreen's. We found out last week that he got it! I am so proud of him! He has really worked hard and his hard work is really paying off. Now he is one of the top guys at Corporate! He has had several promotions now in the past 6 months, wow! (Ok, I am totally bragging right now, but I think that a proud wife should have some bragging priviledges!)



The next 2 months are going to be low-key at home, maybe a house project or two. We are staying here for the holidays and are hoping that some family will come see us! :) Work is about to get hectic for both of us, so we are looking forward to a easy agenda on the home front!



To end this post, I managed to pull a couple of lame-o pictures off of my phone's camera from Disneyworld! Yes, we totally forgot our camera when we went to Florida, I told you we were pathetic!

Let's Hear It for the Boy!

Congrats to ANDY! He just got a new job at Walgreen's as a Corporate Trainer!! I am so proud of him. He really does deserve this and he will be very good at this new job. It's been fun too, he has normal work hours lately, so we get home the same time everyday now! I have been loving the extra time we have had lately to hang out.

The Best Day EVER!

Well, it has been awhile...again! The reason I don't post much is a combination of things, 1. We are kind of lame, Andy and I, we go to work, and that's about all. 2. When we do something that is fun, we always forget our camera, and a blog without pictures is boring. Yes, I do admit that my blog is boring. 3. It's just Andy and I, no kids, unless you count my brother who has been living with us, but I don't think that counts! 4. I don't ever feel like I have anything interesting to share, I really need to get Andy on the scene of this blog, because he is HILARIOUS, and he always has some kind of opinion, or something to say. I will work on that!


As my post title says, this past Friday WAS one of the best days ever! We woke up Friday morning (both Andy and I had the day off) and went and picked up these two beauties:

That's right! Our vehicles were in serious need of replacement so we bit the bullet and bought two used Kias, a Spectra for me and a Sportage for Andy. So I guess we are a Kia family now, kind of funny! They are very fun and we don't have the stress of breakdowns anymore since they both have good warranties on them! Yeah!

After we got home we got ready to go out to Florence, AZ to.....COUNTRY THUNDER! That's right, Andy bought us tickets, still a miracle in my eyes! He had to work the rest of the weekend so we only went on Friday, but that was ok because I got to see one of my all time favorites, Timmy McGraw! Andy was a trooper, even though at one time during the concert he said that he was thinking that he would rather be at the dentist...RUDE! Seeing Tim did make me a little homesick for all of my good friends in Idaho. I have so many good memories of Tim McGraw concerts with my friends and sister while we were in high school and college.

Anyways, thank you Andy for the awesome present! You are too good to me!! Not a bad day, huh?

Good news!

I think that I almost have Andy convinced to take me to this for our anniversary!

Those of you who know Andy will know how amazing that is.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

So I guess it's time to post something!

My, it has been awhile! Here is a little update on Andy and I. First, I would like to apologize, I thought I was going to be so good, and take tons of pictures of our trip, however, I forgot our camera everytime I wanted it, so we didn't get any pictures. Sad huh! I need to be better.

Our Christmas started off a little rocky. After finals were finished, Andy and I took off early for Idaho. My sweet grandma had a heart attack the weekend prior and we went up to be with the family. She ended up passing away on December 19th, the day that we arrived in Idaho Falls. Grandma Jacobson was a kind, loving grandmother. Grandma was always interested in every aspect of our life. She was such a caring lady, we always got Valentine's in the mail from her, so cute. She used to always have something good for us to eat when we were at her house. She was talented at so many things. One of her passions was sewing, I love the quilt that she gave me for my wedding. My mom, a few of my aunts, and I got to finish her last quilt for her. I felt honored to take the already threaded needle that she had been using and follow her lead on it. What a wonderful, strong example for me.

The day after Grandma passed away, my cousin Cody was killed in a car wreck. See story here. Cody is my dad's nephew. He was eighteen. Cody was one of the kindest, funnest kids that I knew. He was always so fun at our family reunions, playing Rook with. A few years ago, a bunch of my family hiked Alaska Basin in the Tetons. Cody came along and it was so fun to see this 14 year old wide eyed kid be so excited to see that beautiful country. I have some good, good memories of him and I am so grateful that my family has the knowledge and testimony of forever families. I know that we will all see Grandma and Cody again. We were all in shock those few days before Christmas, but being together and supporting one another made all of the difference. I am so grateful for my loving family and their goodness.

My uncle spoke at both his mother and son's funeral. They were on Monday the 22nd and Tuesday the 23rd. He did an amazing job. He shared a poem that was perfect at both of the funerals. I think that it gave a good perspective on the Christmas season.

My First Christmas in Heaven

"I see the countless Christmas trees, around the world below.
With tiny lights, like Heaven's stars, reflecting on the snow.

The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away the tear.
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear.
But, the sound of music can't compare, with the Christmas choir up here.

I have no words to tell you the joy their voices bring.
For it is beyond description to hear the Angels sing.

I know how much you miss me, I see the pain inside your heart.
But, I am not so far away, we really aren't apart.

So be happy for me, dear ones, you know I hold you dear.
And be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I sent you each a special gift, from my Heavenly home above.
I sent you each of memory of my undying love.

After all, Love is a gift more precious than pure gold.
It is always most important in the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do.
For I can't count the blessings or Love He has for each of you.

So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear.
Remember, I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year."


After some very emotional days, on Christmas Eve, Andy and I drove over to Boise and got to spend a week with his family. We had a wonderful time eating, playing games, going sledding, hockey games, long visits, High School Musical 3 with cute nieces, a flying monkey, grandparents, seeing old friends, and sleeping! Heber and Karen spoiled us with a wonderful Christmas. We so loved being with all of them and miss Boise again already, one day we will be up there and we will stay!

On December 30th, we drove back to Idaho Falls and spent the next few days with my family. We went up to the lodge at West Piney for our annual reunion. There was tons of snow, but Andy and I mostly stayed inside, reading, relaxing, and playing many hands of Rook (I managed to win, too!). My aunt, Yvonne, taught me how to make these cute hand towels, I became addicted to that too, very fun! We loved being up there in that beautiful area, I miss it. We also got to spend some time with my sister Jill, her husband Ben, and Miss Brooklyn, always a good time. We miss all of you guys already!

On January 3, we headed back to Arizona, my brother Zane driving. He is going to stay with us again this winter. We stopped in Mesquite to stay the night. We stayed at the Casablanca Hotel there, very nice, and excellent buffet! :) We made it back to Mesa late Sunday night. It is good to be home, but we loved the time we got to spend with our family. Anyways, there is an update for you. Sorry for the long novel! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

My Saturday...

This past Saturday I wanted to be ambitious and get a lot of stuff done around the house, namely things that both Andy and I have been putting off, because neither one of us wanted to do them and we were both hoping that the other would get to it. :) The biggest of those being our deep freezer. Andy insisted that I blog about this, even though I think it's disgusting and won't do the incident justice by trying to write about it.

A few months ago, I believe it was in June, our garage started stinking one day. We couldn't figure out what it was. The next day it was really stinking, like gag-you stinking. It smelled like something had died in there. We were pulling into the garage that day and I noticed that the light on the bottom corner of the freezer was turned off. That's when we figured out our smell...Andy went and opened it up and just imagine opening a freezer with about 40 pounds of thawed, raw meat, fish included. Andy was the brave one and cleaned out all of it, however, we had no idea how to dump out the 2 inches of blood that had settled into the bottom of the freezer (our freezer is bolted into Andy's workbench, so you can't move it out). Well, we had plans that night, so we just turned the freezer back on so that the blood would freeze and not stink and we would take care of the when we got a chance.

Well both of us had put it off until Saturday. Friday night I decided that I was going to get it done! I unplugged the freezer, so that it would start to thaw, and got geared up mentally for the next day! :)

When I opened up the freezer Saturday morning, it still hadn't completely thawed, there were big blood blocks in it, so I pounded on those with a stick to try to break them up. I cleaned out my car while it continued to thaw. As it started to thaw, the flies came in, like hundreds of flies, so gross. When I was done cleaning my car, the freezer had basically all thawed out, except for a few big pieces. I got the brillant idea that I would wet vac out all of the nastiness. We have this little two gallon wet vac, which is very handy. You can lift it and move it around, it's not too big to handle. I cranked up that thing and started to suck out all of the blood. It was working pretty good, except some of the big ice chunks would get stuck. I got a bucket for them and as they got attached to the bottom of the hose, I would pull them off and put them in the bucket. Well, my attention was completely focused on the hose and ice bucket. I was happy with how things were going until I looked behind me and noticed that the 2 gallon little shop vac was now completely full and was spitting all the blood right back out into my garage, it was literally spraying it, all over our shoes, tools, water heater, etc. etc. In a panicked state, I turned around quickly and also got covered in the nastiness, I mean COVERED! I was gagging and trying to get things under control at the same time. The flies were having a hay day, now even more of them, all over the garage!

I had to dump out the shop vac. I didn't know where to dump it, so I figured the best place to do it would be done the kitchen sink. I figured that if I dumped bleach down too, it wouldn't be a big deal. It dumped well, and then I started the process again. The second time I went to dump it the sink decided to clog. The disposal decided to be broke, and all of the nastiness wouldn't go down the drain...AHHH! Now I was covered with blood, my garage was covered with blood, and my house was soon to smell just like my garage did.

Anyways, it was quite the sight if you can imagine. I ended up having to plung the sink, which then got a extremely nice bleach bath, I then got out all of my Lysol products and the whole garage got a good scrub down, each individual tool and shoe included. This took me hours, if you can imagine. Finally, I was done, all the flies were gone, and I was able to shower too. It was awful! When Andy got home I told him and he thought it was HILARIOUS! It is, now that's it's over. Believe me, I've learned my lesson on procrastination. I think the really funny part of it was that night I was craving steak for dinner, go figure, who would of thought after all of that! Funny huh!

One of my first loves :)

Ever since I was about five years old I have LOVED George Strait! My sister, Jill, and I used to always sing along with him in the car with my mom while she was running errands. One of the best times of my life was going to the George Strait Festival with Jill and a bunch of my friends, the year I graduated from high school. SO FUN!

Anyways, one of the biggest nights of the year for Jill and I, as kids, was the night of the Country Music Awards. Let me say, it was always a party! This year was no different, of course! My grandpa and I watched the award show together (luckily, Andy had to work, he is anti-country music)! George performed, was nominated for several awards, and won two awards: best album of the year, and best single of the year. I had to chuckle at myself because when he came out to perform I automatically got a huge grin on my face, I guess some feelings never die! :)

Here is his most current album: "Troubadour", very excellent!!