So This is 'Lobe'

Valentines day. A day were you can do something special for the one you love...because it is expected of you. I was thinking about Valentines day, and how funny it is. Hallmark has a new campaign, 'Valentines day is not a day to say I love you, but a day to say, I love us. This made me laugh'...nope sorry hallmark, I just love my husband. I spent the majority of my single life, hating this fabricated holiday because I never seemed to have a date! Now that I am married and have a wonderful husband, I find myself dreading Valentines day cause I can never come up with a better gift for him then what he ends up getting for me! So, I decided this year, I would not worry about it, and enjoy the love he gives me and do my best to make him feel special. I decided that I would make a candle light dinner of all of the things he loves to eat, but I never want to buy them because they are not my favorite, selfless, yes? We had stuffed salmon, shushi, shrimp and chocolate covered strawberries. It turned out great, and it was wonderful to have a relaxed evening with eachother. I love my sweet husband more then anything. Everyday the love seems to grow stronger as we come to know eachother better. I feel so blessed to have such a thoughtful, caring and hilarious man in my life. I can endure the fabrication of valentines day, cause I know that when the day is over, he will continue to make me feel special.

Hobby Time

I have been feeling the Itch to take pictures again. My sister and her family were sweet enough to let me practice on them and take their family pictures. I have a lot of editing to do and discoverd that taking family pictures is pretty difficult. There is not one picture where everyone is smiling and looking at the camera! Oh well, looks like I will have to practice more. :)

BRING-IT-ON 2011

I was thinking today...as I sometimes do... how scary it is to start a new year! I am a very paronoid person and am always worried about the "what if". Mark is great for me cause he is such an optimistic person, I really need to get better at that. I was thinking about the upcoming years "what if's" such as:

• What if I get pregnant?
• What if I lose my job?
• What if I get cancer?
• What if Mark dies in an accident?
• What if Mark and I start to annoy eachother?
• What if something happens to my mom?
• What if something happens to Andrew?
• What if I don't get that raise I want?

And the list goes on longer, but you get the Idea. Then I got a little piece of mark in my brain and decided I should be more optimistic about the upcoming year. Make goals for myself to look forward to, so that I won't worry about the 'what if' but working on the 'what IS' going to happen in 2011 if I am in control. So, here is my 2011 new years resolutions:

• I will work on my physical fitness. Work out at least 4 times a week and create a plan to enter into some kind of physical challenge event. (doing a 5k run or a breast cancer walk)
• I will limit my time on facebook, so I can dedicate it to the lost projects I have started and stoped during 2010.
• I will be better at paying my tithing.
• I will read my scriptures everyday with mark, so we can strengthen our testimonies together.
• I will continue to find ways to serve Mark to express my love and appreciation for him.
• I will ask my manager for a raise, expressing my desires to move up within the company so I can better demonstrate my skills. Or I will find another job.
• I will call a family member who is out of state at least once a week, so I can develop a better relationship with my siblings.
• We will go to disneyland.
• I will be a member missionary.

I am sure I will develop a lot more goals throughout 2011, but this is a start. All I can say is, no matter what the new year brings (good or bad) I will always have the support of my loving family, husband and the savior to help me have a positive year. So 2011, BRING-IT-ON!

One Year Was Easy! Let's Do It Again!

September 25th 2010 marked our one year wedding anniversary. The year flew by so fast! To celebrate our anniversary, a very kind friend of Marks' family lent us their condo in Pine Top Arizona. It was so wonderful to go away somewhere together, to be away from work, regular routines and actually be somewhere different and with only eachother to entertain. Pine Top is a beautiful place and perfect for us to start the fall off right. The pine trees and log cabins reminded me of Oregon and made me a little homesick. However, the perfect 75 degree temperature and no rain helped me to be even more thankful I live in Arizona. Mark and I visited the town of Greer...

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We found some really pretty creeks and cabins that we decided we were going to buy someday.
We also went to a car show and stoped by a lake on the apache indian reservation. Overall it was a wonderful weekend and the best way to celebrate our first year of marriage. This past year has been easier then I ever thought it could be. Maybe it helps that Mark is the most wonderful husband in the world! I love him so much and I hope to have the rest of forever be just as amazing.

Momentas September!

September Marks a month of momentas upcoming events...well, one event. Mark and I will be hitting our 1 yr anniversary this month! This time has gone by so fast. I have been thinking this week of what mark and I have learned in this past first year of marriage and if anything has changed? And as cheesy as it sounds, we are actually more in love then ever! I have changed as a person, developing more hobbies and being more spontaneous like mark. He is still the king of surprises though and I often put my foot in my mouth, being sad that he didn't do something for me and then he surprises me with more then I would have expected. Today I asked him to purchase a golf shirt at his work for me. I met him for dinner and he said that he had forgotten the shirt. I was disappointed and started to mention things he had asked me to do and I didn't forget, trying to make him feel guilty (I am a jerk). He said nothing, just apologized and took the harassment. When we got home, I turned on the lights and there on the kitchen chair was the shirt AND a pair of golf shorts I had mentioned I liked. He is so thoughtful! I felt like the biggest schmuck. So, I have decided this year of marriage will be my turn for the surprises...why? Because I love the guy to death! Well, I will have more entries this month as it progresses to our actual anniversary. We are finally getting away and going to pine top and the grand canyon for four days for our anniversary, so that will be amazing! I need a vacation!!!!!

Tarantula Nightmare!

Last night I was picking Mark up from basketball at the Stake Center and we were walking out the door when I look above the door, and the worlds biggest Tarantula was climbing down the door frame! At first I thought it was the coolest thing ever, unfortunatly I didn't have my camera so I used my cell phone to take a picture. I had to get as close as I could to it to take the picture because otherwise it would not be visible from my camera phone. I don't think getting as close as I did to it was a good idea! I got the scary feeling like it was going to jump on me and I let out a big scream and began to jump around! I am not a screamer at all and I have never freaked out like that before, but this spider made me so freaked out!! I ran into the car and locked the door. I looked at the door where the spider was and saw that someone was about to come walking through that same door. I screamed 'THE TARANTULA IS GOING TO FALL ON YOU'! However, the he would have not been able to hear me because i was in my car. Though, I think he heard me scream cause he waved at me as he walked by. I tried to drive away putting the car into drive instead of reverse, luckly Mark was noticed and told me to stop and put it into reverse. The whole way home I was laughing, screaming and making gaging noises...I AM SUCH A WEIRDO! At first Mark was trying to calm me down, and then he just started laughing really hard calling me a strange little girl. So, what started out as something really cool, became a total freak out fest...IT'S CRAWLING ON ME!!!!

hahaha, the picture is really bad...all that freaking out for nothing!!

Family times two!

So, Mark and I decided that living by both of our families is a good thing. We got the chance to have dinner today with Mark's parents and Aunt Teresa and Roger. We had a lot of fun talking with them and I learned that I am quiet the pro at the game of Clue. It is always nice to spend time with the Ontiveros family...they are wonderful.

Then we went to the Horton family residence. Always crazy, always loud and always a good time. It was Ben's 2nd Birthday today and we celebrated a belated 11th Birthday for Sarah. I can't belive how old these little sweeties are getting! Especially my little sarah, she is turning into a beautiful young lady! We had fun watching little fatty Ben chow down on his cake while wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Then we chased eachother around, spun on chairs and wresteld for a little bit.

Needless to say, we love our time with our families! I am glad we are so blessed to have them near by so we can laugh together and share life's mile stones. We love you family!

Oh, and these other pictures are from having fun with Tina, Kara and Darla.