BIRTHDAY AND WEEKEND FUN!

 

MY BDAY WAS ON A WEDNESDAY SO ZACH AND I BOTH HAD TO WORK! I HAD A PRETTY SHORT DAY WITH MY VISITS SO I WAS ABLE TO MEET UP WITH MY MOM,

DENISE, SARA AND MASON FOR LUNCH! WE WENT TO ROOSTERS IN OGDEN AND HAD FUN GETTING TO HAVE A LITTLE GIRLS TIME. MY SWEET MOMMA GAVE ME LUGGAGE! I ALWAYS HAVE TO BORROW HERS WHEN I GO ON TRIPS SO I CAN'T WAIT TO USE IT! PLUS IT IS POKA DOTS AND HOT PINK, I LOVE IT!

THAT EVENING AFTER ZACH GOT OFF OF WORK I WAS STILL FULL FROM LUNCH SO WE DECIDED TO GO GET ONE OF MY FAVORITES....JAMBA JUICE! WE CAME HOME AFTER AND I OPENED ZACH'S GIFT. MY HUSBAND WRITES THE BEST CARDS AND THEY ALWAYS MEAN THE WORLD TO ME. WHILE I WAS READING IT OUT LOUD WE BOTH STARTED TO CRY. WE ARE JUST SO GRATEFUL TO BE EACH OTHERS BEST FRIEND AND HELPMATE! ZACH AND HIS PARENTS WENT IN ON A NEW FISHING VEST FOR ME THAT CAME FULLY LOADED! HE PUT IN TACKLE BOXES, FLY'S, HOOKS, AND ALL I COULD NEED.

NOW ALL WE NEED TO DO IS PLAN A FISHING TRIP! WE WENT TO SNUGGLE IN BED AND WATCH SWEET HOME ALABAMA...AND OF COURSE ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITES, A REALLY LONG BACK TICKLE! THANKS FOR MAKING ME FEEL SO LOVED BABE.

THURSDAY WE WENT OUT TO DINNER WITH ZACH'S FAMILY TO KOBE! I LOVE THIS RESTAURANT AND THE KIDS LOVED THE COOK WE HAD! I'M SO BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH AWESOME IN LAWS AND FAMILY! THEY ALWAYS MAKE ME FEEL SO

SPECIAL!

FRIDAY WE PLANNED A DATE NIGHT WITH PERRI AND BRENT. PER IS 38 WEEKS PREGNANT AND THIS WILL PROBABLY BE

ONE OF OUR LAST DATES BEFORE MR. JANTZ ARRIVES. I MADE HOMEMADE TURKEY CHILI WITH ROLLS AND BANANA BREAD JUST IN TIME FOR FALL TO START MAKING IT'S APPEARANCE. THEY CAME OVER TO OUR HOUSE TO HAVE A COZY NIGHT IN WATCHING THE UTES VS UTAH STATE FOOTBALL GAME. WE LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SNUGGLE THEIR LITTLE MAN!

SATURDAY ZACH TOOK TYTAN TO THE

WATERFOWL EXPEDITION FOR KIDS IN FARMINGTON. THEY HAD A BLAST GETTING TO ROCK CLIMB, LEARNING HOW TO DO DUCK CALLS, AND SHOOTING GUNS AND BOWS. DAVE BROUGHT THE TWINS DOWN A LITTLE LATER AND THEY WERE ALL ABLE TO HANG OUT. ZACH IS SUCH AN AMAZING UNCLE AND HE TRULY LOVES THESE KIDS SO MUCH! I CAN'T WAIT TO MAKE HIM A DADDY SOMEDAY! AFTER HE GOT BACK WE PACKED UP AND HEADED TO EVANSTON FOR THE WEEKEND. WE HAD A GOOD TIME GETTING TO HANG OUT WITH FAMILY! WE WATCHED THE BYU FOOTBALL GAME SATURDAY NIGHT. SUNDAY WE HAD DINNER TOGETHER

 WITH THE FAMILY AFTER CHURCH TO CELEBRATE MY BDAY. ZACH HELPED THE BOYS WRITE A FOOTBALL PLAY BOOK SO THEY COULD REMEMBER THE PLAYS HE HAD TAUGHT THEM. MY MOM HAD CALLED ME LAST WEEK AND SAID THAT THEY HAD TRIED TO PLAY FOOTBALL WITHOUT ZACH AND THAT THEY CAME IN AND TOLD HER THAT THEY COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT ZACH HAHA. WE'RE SO LUCKY TO HAVE THIS GUY. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING ME FEEL SO SPECIAL!

How I feel about turning 28!

09/09/15

I feel like it is crazy that I am 28 years old! Life really does fly by so fast, and I can only hope that I make the best of it everyday! Looking back I thought by 28 I would be married with a couple of kids...it is crazy that my life has not gone how I thought it would, but I honestly wouldn't change a thing! I have been able to grow and learn so much, and I have also been able to find a husband who I sincerely cherish and love in a way I didn't even know was possible. I have had a lot of experiences since I graduated high school that have stretched me and taught me so much.

My senior year I was offered a scholarship to go play softball in Nebraska. I remember having a hard time making the decision to go since it would be so far away from home. This experience was SO incredibly difficult at the time. I had a lot of days I felt completely alone. I was in a completely different environment and culture and didn't know a single soul. I lived in the dorms shared by the male and female athletes who were young and excited to party living away from home. I didn't have anyone around me who shared my morals or beliefs, and as a bonus I was getting my butt kicked in softball. There were so many nights I stayed alone in my dorm room while the rest of the dorm was partying, getting wasted, and doing who knows what else. I remember one night specifically that I was laying in bed crying so hard it hurt. I was homesick and alone....This was one of the first experiences I had in my life feeling completely and totally alone. I remember praying SO hard and just asking for even a tiny bit of comfort....just to know that he knew me and that he was listening. I remember feeling this overwhelming warm feeling wrap around me and it felt like I was being hugged. I knew then that Heavenly Father was aware of me and my struggles and that I would make it through this. While everyone would be sleeping in recovering from their hang over, I would get up early and go to the only LDS ward in the town by myself haha. When I would be getting back from church around noon they would be starting to roll out of bed and asking where the heck I had been.  These are just a few of the experiences I had while I lived in Nebraska and they helped me to be strengthened, to become more independent, and to help strengthen my testimony for future obstacles that would come my way!. 

I had decided to not go back and continue another year out at Nebraska and while I was home on a break I had the head coach from Chadron State University in Colorado asking me to come pitch for them. He had watched me play and was offering me an amazing opportunity to play for them along with a scholarship. I knew he was an amazing coach from having a couple friends play there, but at the time I was so broken down I didn't have any confidence to continue on. After a ton of praying to make a decision I decided to come back to Utah and move up to Utah State. I had so much fun up there! Probably too much...especially my first semester haha. I played so much, made a ton of friends, dated more than I knew possible, and pretty much bombed all of my classes. I spent the summer staying up there working and retaking a few of the classes I had done so poorly on haha. I know it wasn't the best, but it had been so worth it. After that semester I finished all of my pre requisites for nursing school and decided to apply down in Ogden. After I was accepted to nursing school I really wanted to stay in Logan and commute to class because I loved it there and had so many amazing friends there. My parents weren't too thrilled with that idea and I ended up going on KSL to find a place to live. I had only been to Ogden twice in my life! I didn't know the town or anyone in it. This move was another very difficult time for me! I had left my comfort zone once again. I started school and all of my classes were in the evening so I was able to continue working as a CNA. I transfered from the company I was working for in Logan to the one in Ogden. The company was Alpine homehealth and hospice. This may age me but this was before we all had a GPS at our side....so talk about difficult driving around to patients homes having no clue where I was! I got lost constantly! My first summer living in Ogden I decided to interview to try and be an EFY counselor. I had gone to EFY as a youth and loved it! I was accepted to be a counselor in Provo Utah! This was such an amazing opportunity and I loved every second. I had been considering a mission, but wanted to finish nursing school so for me this was like a little "mini mission." I sincerely saw miracles and learned more from the youth than i'm sure they learned from me! 

The nursing program I was in was an accelerated program and I felt that I lived and breathed studying and clinicals.There were a lot of overwhelming moments in that program! After I had been accepted I had prayed and told Heavenly Father I knew I could not do it on my own, and promised that if he would help me get through it that I would work my absolute hardest and that I would never forget that it was because of him! Even though this was some of the busiest time in my life I had been called to teach Relief Society. I learned so much from this calling and found that it helped balance me in my life. I made it a goal to not study on Sundays. It was really hard at times and I spent a lot of Saturday nights studying and setting early alarms Monday morning, but I know that I had been blessed because of it. After I had been released as a teacher I was also called to be a counselor in the Relief Society. This was yet another opportunity I was given to be able to serve and focus on someone and something besides myself.  Two days after taking my boards I had been waiting and waiting to see if I had passed online...at 11pm I got a text from a friend that said she had seen my name on DOPL. I had passed! I cried and immediately said a prayer of gratitude because I was sure I had failed. I was able to graduate at age 21 as a nurse and feel so blessed to have started such an amazing career so early.

After graduating I worked at Hearts for homehealth for a year and a half then I decided to go to the hospital where I worked on CVTU (cardiovascular thoracic unit) for a year and a half, and then to the ER for 3 years. I got into a serious 2 year relationship after I graduated and ultimately knew it wasn't right. It was a very difficult breakup. A while after this breakup is when I met and got into another relationship. That relationship ended up in a marriage. A marriage that was very difficult. This was yet another time in my life that I felt alone. I was working full time on CVTU working straight night shifts and had also started the BSN program. I remember sitting down at my computer trying to type papers and do my homework and just staring at the screen for hours. I was so tired and overwhelmed that I would just cry and not be able to focus longer than 2 minutes. Looking back I am able to see that those prior trials had helped prepare me for the most difficult time I would have in my life. These were very dark, lonely, hopeless, numb days. It was a time that I still don't fully understand how I survived. Having been able to have a few years of perspective since that divorce I am able to see that yes it was the MOST difficult time in my life, but it has also been one of the greatest blessings. Because of that situation I was able to be completely broken....because I was so broken my Heavenly Father was able to pick up those pieces, put them back together, and mold them into something more beautiful. Someone that is strong, someone who knows they can do hard things, someone who knows "who they are, and who's they are." I grew to not just know I HAD a Heavenly Father, but I grew to KNOW my Heavenly Father. Having known such heartache, I can know something so amazing. EVERY SINGLE DAY I see something more that I am grateful for in Zach! I see that because I have seen something so different. I cherish the looks he gives me, his compliments and kisses. That he lets me snuggle him and smother him. That he laughs at my jokes and sincerely loves me for ME. I cherish his testimony, his love for his family and my family, his love for kids. I cherish our eternal marriage and I will never take it for granted. I cherish these days we have alone together learning more about each other every day. I truly am blessed with the best!

Labor Day Fun 2015

This weekend will go down as the most fun Labor Day I've ever had! We got invited by our family friend's

The Jacob's to go to their property in Chalk Creek. We packed up and left Friday after work.We got up around 7pm and unloaded and had dinner with everyone. Zach and I stayed down at the "Salt Cabin" while the others had brought their campers to stay in. Zach got up early to go

scouting for deer and elk with Jeremy Saturday morning. After cooking breakfast and cleaning up we loaded up on the four-wheelers for a long ride around the property. The Jacobs have just over 10,000 acres of

gorgeous property! We were gone until that evening so when we got back we cooked chicken and potatoes in the dutch oven. Zach and I were standing outside and he randomly grabbed me and hugged me and wouldn't let go....I thought he was being weird when right after

that my cute in-laws came around the corner with a cake lit up for me singing happy birthday! My bday is in a few days and these cute people had thought of surprising me up in the mountains. I'm so lucky to have Bob and Susan as my in-laws! After staying up visiting with everyone we headed down to our cozy little cabin. Zach

and I stayed up talking and snuggling and listening to the creek running right by the cabin. Sunday morning we cooked breakfast and hung around camp. We played horseshoes and games with the kids, took a nap, and then that afternoon we road the four-wheelers to the top

of the property to East Lake to go fishing. We had success and the kids even out-fished us! On the way back we enjoyed all of the scenery and found a bunch of elk we stopped to see on

the hillside. I loaded up and headed home that evening so I could work on Monday while Zach stayed up one more night. Monday they all went on a hike and Zach and his dad were able to find

the tree that they had carved into when he had killed his first buck. I can't believe they were able to find it out of 10,000 acres and thousands of trees! It was such a fun memory for

them! We had a blast with our family and friends! We are so lucky to have people like the Jacob's in our life! I grow to love Zach more every single day! He's my rock and I can't imagine my life without him in it!

Shake it for me!

August 27, 2015

I surprised Zach with tickets to Luke Bryan over our Anniversary. I traveled to SLC to pick Zach up from work and we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. After dinner we headed to the concert. Dustin Lynch and Randy Houser opened for him which was amazing! It was a beautiful night and the weather was perfect! I loved shakin' it with Luke Bryan and my main squeeze! We sang and danced the night away! I love my sweet husband! Thanks for the fun night babe!