A few more from Jamaica

How cute! Brent and Tracy huggin on the beach

Oh Look! It's another bathroom! and no, we didn't actually stop at that one! We saw this one when we were horseback riding

So....this is our EC look-alike. After Brent pointed her out, I had to go ask if we could take pictures with her so we could have EC with us

And another one with 'EC'

And one more - she was such a good sport :-)

More Jamaica Pictures

Wait a minute! I thought Salt Lake was 'da place'?!

Hmmm, Surprisingly we found a bathroom in our travels (imagine that :-))

The sign on the bathrooms was Bushman and Bushwoman

Oh Look! Another bathroom!

This is Bryan - he decided to jump off the cliff at Rick's Cafe (this is probably 50' high) and Bryan doesn't like heights......He was so brave!

This was a nice picture of Brent, Tracy, Mom, Fred and me and Bryan

Happy Birthday EC!

Just a quick note to say Happy Birthday EC!!!

Let's Start the Pictures

Okay,
I'll post some of the pics I've got downloaded so far. I wish I knew how to make it so that when you click on them, they will blow up....

Bryan and I with the Preacher

WooHoo! We're married!

From left to right: Neveah, Jeff, Hannah, Rick, Jan, Brett, Lindsey (Bryan's Brett and Lindsey), Bryan, me! Fred, Mom, Jen, Jake (Friends of Bryan's that were kind enough to come see us get married :-)), Tracy, Brent

Me and Bryan again :-)

Another one of us!



Oh Look! That's us!

And one last one of us smooching :-)

Everything turned out so wonderful!!!

I'll be adding more pics as I get them, but I thought I better get these up at least.

We're Back!

We're back! Although, we were home only a day before it started snowing! couldn't it have done this while we were gone? So......where to begin? Everything was soo wonderful in Jamaica - I think a good time was had by all, and the wedding turned out beautifully. and of course, I forgot to bring my pictures to the office in order to download them, so it will be a day or two more. I have a couple of shots that I will include that were from my camera, but we used Bryan's most of the time because 'it has better resolution' (this is a discussion we have every time the cameras come out). So, I'll have to get his and bring it in.

But - we had so much fun! We wish everyone could have joined us, but if not, hopefully you can join us at our open house on December 27 -OH! and for those of you who haven't gotten your invitations, I'm working on it, I promise. I had several come back in the mail with bad addresses; and others I haven't found yet, so not to worry.

I'm not sure where to begin with all the fun, but I'll start with the few pics I have from my camera and tomorrow I'll remember to bring my other pictures so I can show the fun things we did.

The sunset the first night we were there - this was the view from our room!

Again, the view from my room - this time the day of the wedding. If you look down toward the gazebo, you'll see a little arch on the sand as well as some folding chairs set up - that's where we got married!

Hopefully the pictures will blow up to full size when you click on them - sometimes they don't work like I'd like them too.

6 More Days!

Holy crap! Where does the time go? I’m almost out of it and still feel like there are a million things to get done! Work has been crazy and getting things ready for the wedding takes a lot of my time, so the blogging has been slacking.

So, 2 more days until Thanksgiving and until we leave for Jamaica! I am so excited!! We are going to have such a great time, and can’t wait to get married! Wish everyone could come with us, but we’ll think of you while we’re relaxing on the beach with an umbrella drink :-)

Brittany's First Gymnastics Meet

Okay, so Brittany’s first competition was actually several weeks ago, and I’ve been bad about blogging lately. But, Brittany did very well for her first meet ever. She struggled a bit on beam, which was her first event, but after that she did very well. She got a second place on floor and second place on bars and had a very nice vault. She also placed well enough to get a medal for her average score.

We’re still trying to figure out how all the scores work, but essentially they gave 12 medals to the girls who averaged in the 9’s on all their routines, then 12 medals for those who averaged in the 8’s, then 12 for the girls who averaged in the 7’s on all their routines.

Brittany was in the ‘7’ group. She was doing level 4 routines, and now that the fall season is over, she’s working on getting her level 5 skills ready so she can compete at the next level in the spring. So she’s working on cartwheels on the beam now, although she likes practicing her back-walkovers on the beam better. She’s also got her kip on bars. We’re very proud of her!

Brittany after getting her medal

Brittany with her ribbons and medal

Good job sweetie!

4 More Weeks!

4 weeks from today and we’ll be getting married!! Woohoo!! And I swear, every time I think I have a handle on things, something else comes up; but it will all be fine, there are a few things we really ought to get around to – like invitations and such (we haven’t even started on those yet), BUT we did finally choose a couple of pictures to be used on the invitations which I think was a great accomplishment for us :-) (especially considering the 350 pictures we had to choose from!!)

http://petermcdearmon.smugmug.com/gallery/6246650_Sbz6Q#394461468_qqHxv

Oh well, one thing at a time……although I’m quickly running out of time.

But on the bright side, my necklace is on its way again after being replaced - hopefully this one won't break as easily

And the jewely store says one more week for Bryan's ring (at least I still have time, but not very much anymore)

Brittany's Baptism

On November 1, Brittany was able to be baptized into the Church – a big thanks to everyone that came out and supported us, it was fairly short notice but it all came together nicely. Uncle Brent was able to baptize her and Grandpa Fred confirmed her.

All of us (from l-r): Whitney, Bryan, Daniele, Tyson, Shalice, Lyndsey, Me, my Bryan, Brittany, Bryan's mom Jan and Dad Rick, Hannah, Brent, Brady, Mom, Fred, Grandma Luella, Judy, little Lacy and Tracy - THANKS AGAIN everyone for coming - you guys are the best!!

Brent and Brittany

Bryan, Me and Brittany

Halloween

Well, Halloween has come and gone up here and all went well. The weather was fabulous for the most part – a few sprinkles here and there, but quite warm. Brittany was a vampire this year, and I was Morticia Adams (not very exciting, but hey, I only had to buy a wig). Bryan was a graduate.

We had a family party with his family – carving pumpkins and all and as you can see by the picture, most everyone was dressed up.

Then we had trunk or treat Thursday night at the ward house, then we had Halloween night and trick-or-treating, and then on Saturday, we had our family Halloween party and carved pumpkins – I think I’m finally Halloweened out for this year! Whew!

Brittany and Brock at Bryan's family party

Brittany starting to work on her pumpkin

(and oh so thrilled that her mother is taking her picture)

Us with Bryan's family - I think a good time was had by all

Me, Bryan and Brittany

Bryan and Brittany working on their pumpkins

Me and Brittany on Halloween - our makeup got less and less as the week went on.

Brittany and Hannah at Grandma's party after picking out their pumpkins

Some of the girls working their pumpkins at Grandma's

5 More Weeks!

5 weeks from today and we are headed to Jamaica!!! Only 5 1/2 weeks til I'm married!!! Wow! I can’t believe how time flies! It seems the closer the wedding is getting, the more things seem to ‘pop’ up that I need to take care of. All in all things are going well, though. Bryan’s ring finally arrived – and though it was beautiful/handsome……….. unfortunately it wasn’t the ring I had ordered…..hmmmm. So, they are supposed to be working on that and get me the right one next week hopefully – thankfully I still have some time so there’s no rush yet.

I also got my necklace today for the wedding and as soon as I tried it on, the clasp broke, grrrrrr. So, now that has to go back to be replaced – again, thankfully I still have time for that as well.

And my shoe broke today – it hasn’t quite been my week for things to be in working order I guess.

We’ve gotten our engagement pictures back and now are trying to narrow the 350 pictures down to 1-2 to be used for the invitations; which we should probably get around to doing sometime soon….

Brittany’s still enjoying gymnastics – Oh! And she’s getting baptized next weekend – the 1st of November!

So all in all, quite a bit going on around here!

Out with the Old, In with the New

So, we finally got all moved out of our house last weekend, and I’m glad we did the majority of it a couple weekends ago, as it was quite cold and rainy this past weekend; but we got it done. Whew! A big thanks to Tracy, Brady, Hannah, and Lacy – as well as Bryan and Brittany for all the help with getting me out of the house on time.

So, now we’re out at mom’s and can focus on everything else going on with us…like the wedding on the 1st of December, the open house on the 27th of December and finding a house for us to live in sometime between now and then.

It’s amazing how time flies, it seems like just the other day I was getting engaged and now I feel like I’m in a fast downhill slide into the wedding and quickly running out of time to get things done!

So, I was going to post pictures from building my house, but I can’t find any at the moment, I just have one, and then the pictures I took as we were leaving for the last time. It was a wonderful home for us, and a great big thanks to my brothers Bryan and Brent and also Daniele and Tracy for helping me become a home owner – You guys are the BEST and I couldn’t have done it without you guys!

Me, Bryan and Brent roofing the house - I think that was the hottest day of the year that year, I was so sore after roofing that! And, we were quite safe, with the ladder sitting on the back of Bryan's truck :-)

My kitchen, well, not anymore - it was my favorite room in the house, even though I hate to cook; I just love the way it turned out

Bryan and Brittany for one last picture next to their garden

And the Front of the house, one last time - it was slightly rainy that day

Whew! Almost Done!

What a crazy week! It's almost done though. I have one more day to finish moving out of my house and back to mom's :-).

And, we're moving in just as Lyndsey, Brett and little Bryan are moving out.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on with us right now. We're still finalizing plans on the wedding since it is all of sudden getting closer, and starting next week, we get to start house hunting! FINALLY, I get to be the buyer!!!

Back from Chicago

Finally, I’ve caught up enough on my work, so I can blog about our trip to Chicago. I must say it was a wonderful trip, and such beautiful weather! Our feet were pretty tired from walking everywhere, as we decided against a rental car (that was a good idea). After being a pedestrian and seeing the drivers there, I’m quite sure that I could invent new curse words and also be put into a padded cell if allowed to drive there :-)

The worst part of the trip had to be when we arrived home to SLC Sunday night at 11.30. Not only was it late, and the vacation over, but we were waiting for our checked luggage to come out and thought that I’d get my car keys ready……………hmmmm………where are my car keys?????? Well, after frantically looking through my purse (which Bryan calls the abyss), my carry on bag, my checked bag, it became increasing clear just where my car keys were – CHICAGO! I was so smart and thought I didn’t want to carry them around with me, so I took them out and set them on the couch in the hotel room…..


***Note to others: if you unpack your keys, put them in your carry-on bag!***


So, we ended up renting a car for the night to get home, and then went back Monday morning with a spare set of keys. However, I will say that the Hilton Homewood Suites in Chicago was a very nice place to stay. From our room we had a nice view of the new Trump Tower being built. Also, when I called them Monday about my keys, they were kind enough to look for them, and then once they found them, FedEx’ed them to me, and I had them back yesterday - 24 hours later! That’s good service!

So, as I said, we didn’t rent a car, so we did A LOT of walking! It was way cool, we walked up and down Michigan Ave (aka The Magnificent Mile) and saw lots of cool, expensive things I could never afford. We also went to the Hancock Tower, which is not as tall as the Sears tower, but we were able to go up to the lounge they have on the 96th floor! Wow! It is amazing how tall these buildings are! We walked to a park there and you should have seen this park – it stretched on and on for many blocks. We also made it out to Soldier Field where the Chicago Bears play, and went to the aquarium as well.

While we were gone, Brittany was able to go to Arizona with Grandma and Grandpa to see Teryn get baptized and little Reese get blessed, and had a wonderful time while there.

And now, it’s back to the real world of work and moving! Selling my house is turning into quite the adventure. Its amazing how much crap you can acquire over a short amount of time (4 years), so this is good at least in the way that it is making me sort through things that I may not need anymore…..like the several pairs of jeans that no longer fit, and even if they did, they are quite out of style. But trying to organize it and get out in the next 10 days is going to be a challenge!

So, enough of my ramblings, I’ll post a couple of pics from our trip:

This is the 'Bean'. It's located in at Millenial Park, and looks like a giant drop of Mercury in the shape of a, well, bean... it was a lot cooler than i thought it was going to be.

A closer view of the 'Bean' - can you see me? It is pretty cool the way it reflects the skyline of Chicago

This is a view from inside the 'Bean'

And another one

A statue in front of Soldier Field (and it may jsut be me, but the lady sitting on the beach looks topless)

Me and my sweetie along Lake Michigan with Chicago in the background - the Sears Tower is the building farthest left

Wow! Look at that sail boat! That's a lot of freaking sails! The little sailboats in the front we think were sailing students - and then there's the huge yellow boat!

Okay, that's all I have time for right now, but i'll post some more pics as soon as I can.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Woohoo! Happy Birthday to me! 32 Years young today and counting!

I love birthdays, and I am so excited because only one more day til we go to Chicago!

My sweetie is taking me there for the weekend!

Woohoo!!!!

I'm selling my house!!!!

This past weekend

So, this past weekend, a couple of things, Brittany started learning her ‘routines’ for gymnastics so that she can start competing, not sure it it’ll be this fall or next spring, but her instructors said she had all the skills necessary, so here we go!

Also, on Saturday we were able to go watch Brittany’s big sister Jessica at a track meet in Provo. Of course by the time we made it there she was finished but it was still good to see her, and, Jessi had her best time of running 3.5 miles, at 29 minutes – way to go!!

Brittany and Jessi :-)

And in other wonderful news, I got an offer on my house!

A Little about us

So, as you may or may not know, Bryan and I are engaged to be married on December 1, in Jamaica and we are sooo excited! Although Brittany’s a little bummed that she doesn’t get to go. But, we promised she can do the whole ‘flower girl’ stuff when we have our open house here at the end of December.

We actually met in Orlando Florida, at the MGM part of DisneyWorld. Turns out we were both there for work, and we ended up meeting the last night of the conference; and as we started talking, we found out we only lived about 30 miles from each other. We work about 5-6 miles away from each other….and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, that was back on December 1, 2005, and this past April 14 (Brittany’s birthday, and my brother Bryan) my Bryan surprised me by asking me to marry him!!!

So, below is a couple pictures of my ring – it’s got a center diamond, with two sapphires (my birthstone) on each side, then along the curve of the ring, it’s also got sapphires; and then the top and bottom have little diamonds as well – it is so pretty! I love it! Bryan did such a good job picking it out!

Golf

We quite enjoy our golf outings, and last weekend we were able to get out a couple of times with Brent and Tracy, at Hobblecreek, then at Fox Hollow.

This year's trip was a much better outing than the last time we were down there, the weather was beautiful, and I didn't lose my club once! Although, the same can't be said of my golf balls. Last year we were there, the weather wasn't as cooperative (note the photos):

Brent, Tracy, my Bryan - last year at Hobblecreek

The cups were a little wet

This year, it was much sunnier! Although, last year was a ton of fun, even in the rain!

Labor Day Vacation and an end to Summer

Well, it seems summer is over now. Last weekend was a trip to the Lake, and a return to cold weather. The Lake was beautiful of course (I don’t think it could be anything but); we had a nice little rain shower one night, which got everyone up and moving pretty quickly. And we had cloudy and cooler weather with a bit of wind the next day; but still a good time was had by all I think. We got some boating in, tubing, hiking, and as always, a trip to Dangling Rope for ice cream!

We had a great time exploring canyons and tracing the little winding fingers back as far as we could until we were walking Brent and Tracy’s boat along the sides of the canyon – one person on each corner of the boat – but what views to be had! (as evidenced below):

Yes, we made it past this curve

The end of the road for us

Some more fun pictures from the Lake:

Me and Britt

Brittany, Hannah and Kira on the tube

The kids eating dinner on the rocks

And now, its back to work, back to school, starting gymnastics again and all that other ‘stuff’. With this cold weather, I’m actually getting concerned for our poor little vegetable garden – for not caring much for whether we had one or not; our first garden has turned out to be quite entertaining – Brittany keeps a pretty good eye on everything and is quick to help harvest the goodies. The best thing for her so far is the corn on the cob.