Bittersweet

I was able to spend some quality time with my parents a couple of weeks ago :) I drove down from Logan on Wednesday, Feb. 22. Once I arrived in Payson my parents, my grandpa, and myself packed up our things and were headed to St. George for the 3A high school basketball tournament!! We were so excited and we'd been looking forward to the tournament for a few weeks! The trip to St. George was bittersweet because although I was really excited to have a few days off of work and to spend some time in warm(er) weather, Petey couldn't come along :( He would've missed 2 days of school, 3 days of work, and missed a mandatory staff meeting. I was really bummed that he couldn't come along, but he stayed and did what he needed to do. I love that boy!!

My family and I didn't want to have to pay for a hotel the 4 nights we would be in St. George, and we were fortunate enough to use my mom's-aunt's condo down there! The condo can sleep like 10 people, and was really nice. We even hit up the Dixie State vs. BYU Hawaii basketball game when we made it to St. G. The trip wasn't just bittersweet since Petey couldn't come, but the Payson basketball team lost in the 2nd round of the tournament :( They were a #1 seed and we knew they had the talent to win state, but the cards just didn't fall into place.

Payson lost to Cedar City in the 2nd round. Although my family is biased because Tanner (my little brother) is on the high school team, we really think that the reffing done at that game wasn't fair. At one point during the second half of the game the foul count was Payson 9, Cedar City 2. SERIOUSLY?!!! Tanner fouled out of the game with like 5 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter, which was just devastating! Another frustrating thing was that Tanner's first foul wasn't even his. The ref blew his whistle and then was looking around for the player that committed the foul. He called it on Tanner, which the whole Payson crowd and even Tanner started to freak out because he wasn't even near where the foul happened. After Tanner heard the foul was called on him he went up to the ref and told him that he called it on the wrong player. The ref looked at my brother and said "oh you're right, it was either on #24 or #33, I'll get that fixed"......low and behold the ref NEVER changed it in the book, so Tanner fouled out with 1 of foul he didn't even commit!! I still want to rip that referee a new one! Clint Bateman, another key player on Payson's basketball team fouled out in the 4th quarter. I started to lose it. Once Tanner fouled out I could see the disappointment and devastation on his face, it was heartbreaking! He and his teammates had worked so hard to win the state title and we had to sit and watch as their dreams were crushed. I hate seeing boys cry, especially my brother and his teammates. It was hard to watch :( Here are a few pictures from that game:




We took Tanner ice cream that night and he was still really upset. I was so upset after the game that I had a good 15 minutes cry-session. I'm so proud of Tanner and everything that he's accomplished. He's worked SO hard, and it's not over! He's going to go on to play college basketball and I know he is going to become even more successful! The next day Payson played Morgan high school (and the team who won that game played the next day for 5th place in state). Tanner had a spectacular game with 25 points, but Payson lost in OT. We are so proud of the Payson Lions, and especially Tanner! They had an amazing season! They went undefeated in region play, Tanner had an amazing senior year, and he was nominated as one of Utah's 9 All-American's for basketball! We love him!

Before we left St. George my mom and I went and took part in the Parade of Homes. We went and saw 11 homes, it was fun to have some girl time :) We looked at one house worth $1.8 MILLION dollars, but our favorite home we saw was a much more affordable (*cough cough*) $499,999. My grandpa and dad didn't really want to participate in the Parade of Homes, so my mom and I had to try and navigate our way around. If we didn't have the GPS we would've been in major trouble! If the GPS didn't recognize where an address was we skipped that house haha. My mom and I don't understand directions very well :)

We left St. George the morning of 25th. It was a somber ride home, but it was nice to spend some time at my actual house with my parents and brother. Being in Payson is one of my favorite places to be. I was happy to get on the road and head back to Logan though because I missed my hubs!! Petey has been working extremely hard at school and I'm so proud of him! Now that I've graduated its kind of weird because Petey will have to study at night, but I want him to play with me because I'm bored. I'm trying to let him study :) Petey and I are planning a vacation to California in May for my college graduation present, and for our 1 year anniversary :) !!

This past week has been crazy at my work. It's case lot and people are insane haha. It lasts through the 10th, so I hope I can survive one more week! The past few days have been crazy weather-wise also! I think Logan has gotten more snow the first 3 days in March than we had the whole month of December. This winter really hasn't been that bad, but now that it's March I'm ready for SPRING TIME!!! Go away snow!!! In Logan there is a gas station that put this up on their marquee...it makes me laugh:

(Dear Sun, Come Back)
This isn't a very good picture, but I think
everyone in Logan feels like this right now
Haha

The other day I came home from work and found this note from Petey on our T.V. stand

There was also a note on our computer that says" I love you boo, thank you for all you do!!" I sure do love that boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So ya...that was how my St. George weekend went and what we've been up to the past week or so. Not a very cool/entertaining post, but its an update, right? :)

Hello My Neglected Blog!

Hello Blogging world!

I need to stop being lazy and blog more often! Good heavens I'm sucking it up! I feel kind of lame that I'm going to be playing catch-up by blogging about Christmas during the month of February, but oh well :) Our Christmas was amazing! I had to work Christmas Even which really bummed me out, but as soon as I got off of work the hubs and I headed to Payson! When we got to Payson we were able to spend a little time with Tyler and Jennie before they headed to her parents house. I always love when our whole family can spend time together :) Before Ty & Jen left we exchanged our family presents. Here are some pictures of our Christmas Eve events:

Opening our stockings

The shirt I got Tanner. Go Bo Sox!

Present from my parents

Ty & Jen's couple gift from the parents! This is

such a cute idea! A chocolate box filled with

money and chocolates!

Our couple gift from my parents was a table and

a set of chairs! Now when people come over to

visit they don't have to sit in our glorious camp

chairs :)

After we opened presents we had an intense

game of finger basketball! The boys got these

in their stockings!

After our intense basketball game we moved

on to ping pong! I'm terrible, but it's always

fun to play. Tanner looks like he's having a

blast...

I love my kitty :)

Christmas morning we decided not to open presents until after church so we could get some extra sleep. After church Tanner decided to tackle his Christmas loot!

Look at all those gifts!

His biggest gift of all was this beauty!

Petey and I are way jealous!

Petey and I got my dad a $25 I-tunes

gift card, and we got my mom The Help!

Look at my dad hamming it up :)

After Tanner and my parents opened up their gifts, it was time for Petey and I to exchange our gifts! We sure got spoiled!!

Petey got 4 shirts, an amazon kindle

gift card, a new wallet, a HUGE stash of gum,

and the X-Men First Class dvd!!

Tanner being a dork

Petey got me an Aeropostale gift card,

my favorite candy, a USU sweatshirt,

the Ever After dvd, and the first season

of Criminal Minds! He did good!!

Smiling with some of our new clothes!

After we opened presents we went to our family

Christmas lunch. The food was delicious and we got

to spend time with our extended family. The best

part was that my Grandma was able to come

for a little while! We sure do love her!

Tanner got a basketball wall vinyl for

Christmas and my mom let him put it above

the stairs. She's such a cool mom :) However...

putting up wall vinyl is a pain in the

butt!!! It took us forever!!

It turned out awesome though!

I was able to get a couple of days off of work, so we were able to hang out in Payson on Monday and Tuesday as well! We hung out, ate yummy food, went to the mall, and just relaxed.

Lovies

Petey's gift to my mom was this

gigantic wall vinyl. It was quite the

process to get this one on the wall,

but the boys did a great job!

The final product!

Once again I love my kitty!

Spending Christmas with my family was awesome!! I love them so much! When we got back to Logan our crazy life continued. I was able to get off by 7pm on News Years Eve, so we went to Tyler & Jennie's to celebrate! We played the game The Last Word (so much fun!), watched the new Planet of the Apes, drank Martinelli's, and kissed our loves at midnight :) It was a fun night!

In more recent news we went to Vernal in January to visit Petey's mom. It takes FOREVER to get out there, but it was a nice weekend away! We also were able to attend my Grandpa's 80th birthday party! It was really nice to get the extended family together to celebrate my Grandpa. My Grandma was able to attend his party as well :) The Monday following my Grandpa's party I woke up during the night feeling crappy. By the morning I was throwing up and all of that fun stuff :( Petey started to feel sick too. By the end of the day there were over 20 people in my family that attended the party that were sick! Someone at the party must have been sick... and ended up getting a bunch of us sick! I had to call into work sick and I felt lousy all day. Fortunately. I felt better the next day and was able to work!

Petey's Grandpa Cook passed away in January. The funeral was very nice, but sad of course. Petey's Grandma passed away about 18 years ago, so it makes us happy to know that they are back together again! Petey's Grandpa is Quentin L. Cook's uncle, from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Cook attended Petey's Grandpa's funeral, spoke at the services, and met us all. It was a sad, but peaceful day.

Petey has been working very hard in school this semester! He is taking the second half of Organic Chemistry, Statistics for Scientists and Engineers (sounds fun, ya?), Public Health, and Epidemiology. I'm extremely proud of him and all of his hard work!! I've been working a lot!! I really like my job, but, but I want to start looking for a job that applies more to my major and my goals :) We'll see what happens!

In other news...Tyler and Jennie are moving to NEW ZEALAND!!! Tyler is going to play for the Auckland Pirates basketball team!!! We are very excited for them to go on this adventure!! I'm very jealous too :) I'm proud of Tyler and I know that him and Jennie are going to have an amazing time in N.Z.!! If Petey and I win the lottery, or happen to stumble upon a $10,000 bill we'll be able to visit them :) Speaking of basketball, Tanner and the Payson Lions have gone UNDEFEATED in region play!!! I'm so proud of him! The state tournament is in St. George the end of February, and I know that the Lions can go all the way!! I'll be attending the tournament with my parents, which will be bitter sweet. Petey can't miss that much school, and he has a staff meeting so he won't be able to go with me :( I'm very VERY excited for the basketball tournament, excited for a little vacation, but sad that Petey can't go with me :(

Well there was a long update on our lives! We have lots of things to look forward to!! I'll keep you posted :)

Recap: Thanksgiving/Finals Week/ GRADUATION!!

I really need to get better at blogging!! There are always things I want to write about...but I'm just lazy! I'm going to do a little recap of Thanksgiving and finals week. I will post about Christmas later when I can steal pictures of my mom's camera (blog posts are no fun without pictures haha!). For Thanksgiving this year Petey and I spent the day with his family down in Bountiful. I was a little nervous because he had a TON of extended family coming to dinner and I'm still the newbie in the family. The dinner was delicious with turkey, homemade stuffing, rolls, casseroles, mashed potatoes and gravy (my all time favorite!!), and homemade pies. Dessert is always my favorite part :) I'm amazed that we were able to squeeze everyone into Petey's grandparents kitchen to eat, but we did. It was a packed room! After dinner Petey's brother Brian wanted to do some hunting, so Petey, his mom, and I decided to go on a ride with him up the mountain. Brian wasn't able to find anything to shoot (which I was glad because I love animals and refuse to go hunting :) ) but the drive up the canyon was really pretty. Here are some pictures I took from our drive:

The sunset was beautiful!

After Thanksgiving dinner we decided to head back to Logan. I had Friday off of work (hallelujah!!), so we slept in and then decided to do a little Black Friday shopping. We bought a couple of things from Wal-Mart and then decided to hit up Best Buy to observe the madness. While we were there I spotted the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 DVD for just $6.99! So we decided to hop in the outrageous line so we could get that steal of a deal. On Saturday my Dad, Mom, Tanner (little bro), and Grandpa decided to come up to the USU vs. Nevada football game. Petey's mom came up to watch the football game too. It was good to spend the day with family :) On Sunday it was my cousin Jason's missionary homecoming, so we were able to spend more time with family and eat some yummy food! The Thanksgiving break was a nice break from work and school! Getting back into the swing of things was hard!!

At my job we only get one Saturday off a month, and for December my Saturday off was December 3rd. Petey and I had planned to go to Payson that weekend since I wasn't able to get Saturday the 24th off (Christmas Eve). Petey realized that he had a mandatory work meeting December 3rd that he couldn't miss, so I decided to go to Payson alone. I drove down and met my parents in Springville where they took me to dinner. After that we went to watch the mighty Payson Lions take on the Pleasant Grove Vikings in basketball. Tanner is a senior this year at Payson and is TEARING IT UP in basketball!! The game was really intense and Tanner hit the shot to send the game into overtime!! The Lions ended up winning in OT! I always love supporting my high school, especially when my brother is playing! The next day we decorated the Christmas tree. My lovely family knows that I LOVE decorating the Christmas tree, so they decided to wait to decorate until I came down :) The rest of the day on Saturday we just hung out. I love spending time with the fam! On Sunday I left earlier than I wanted to because Utah had been issued a severe weather warning (and I DO NOT travel well in bad weather!) so I ended up leaving Payson a little after 11 am. Although I was sad to leave I was very very very excited to get back to my cute husband that I missed!!

The lovely family tree

Anyone who knows me knows that I love cats,

so this is another reason why I love going

to visit home :) I love my kitty! He loved this

spot under the tree!

Finals week was really stressful this year. I had 4 finals, 2 of which were super crappy and Petey had 3 finals (Calculus, Organic Chemistry, and Communicable Diseases) --> his finals week was terrible! I've never seen someone study as hard as he does, I love him!! AND GUESS WHAT.... I AM DONE WITH COLLEGE!!!!! I don't feel like I'm done since Utah State doesn't do a graduation ceremony until May, so I haven't been able to walk around in a cap and gown...so it doesn't seem real yet. Once I get my diploma in the mail it will be official and the cap and gown pictures will come in May!!!!! I'm going to start looking for a 'real' job, but I'm nervous. We'll see what happens...yikes! Growing up is scary!!!

I hope you all had Happy Holidays! I'll write again soon about Christmas and New Years :)

Stress overload

This week is finals week and I have my LAST final of my undergraduate college degree tomorrow. It also happens to be my hardest final. I'm freaking out. I'm beyond stressed and my apartment and personal hygiene have begun to suffer. But in less than 12 hours I'LL BE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then I will be able to finally catch up on some much needed blogging :) I hope all goes well!

One Month

Hello my blogging peeps! I've sucked it up lately on blogging. It's not that I forget about it, I just always say to myself 'you can do a post after your test' or 'blog after your paper is done'....but my never-ending list of things to accomplish is holding me back! I decided to title this post One Month because a lot has happened in the last month since I've blogged, and there is a lot I'm looking forward to in the next month.

Things I've done in the last month:

- Enjoyed a MUCH needed Fall Break (the one day off of school is kind of a pathetic break, but still nice)

- Went to Palisades State Park with my Saunders extended family

- Received a 100% on the paper that has been the hardest to write of my college career (spent about 12 hours looking through 50 years of the U.S. Census. Barf.)

- Tyler and Jennie moved back to Logan, so we've had some family/couple together-ness :)

- Enjoyed a scrapbooking get-a-way with my amazing Mom (I LOVE HER!!!)

- Dressed up like a princess for Halloween. I had little kids getting pictures with me at work, and had little girls freak out because I was a princess. So cute!

- Watched USU BEAT BYU in basketball. There is nothing I love more than beating some Cougar butt. Seriously people. I was beaming with happiness (sorry cougar lovers :) )

Things I'm looking forward to in the next month:

- Thanksgiving! I need some good food, and lots of it! Pies, potatoes, turkey, rolls, B.R.I.N.G. I.T. O.N.!!! (With my work schedule I may not get Thanksgiving day or any part of the weekend off, which will epic-ly suck...I find out my schedule on Friday. Either way though I'll have a few days off of school.)

- GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE!!!!!!! Yep, that's right folks. I graduate from Utah State University in less than a month!!! I'm freaking out. I'm so sick of homework, but I'm also scared of being let loose into the 'real world.' We'll see what happens....

- Christmas!! It's more like 6 weeks away, but whatevs I'm still wayyyyyyy excited! (What should I get Petey?!!! I need ideas!)

- My little brother Tanner is about to start his senior season of basketball for Payson High School and I'm so stocked for him. Love you little brother!

- My last finals week!!!

- I'll be quitting the USU Bookstore in December. It will be bitter-sweet since I've been working there forever, but it will be good at the same time. It's been a great job and I love the people I've worked with!

Fall Break

Fall break was so nice for Petey and I. We were both so burned out so it was good to have a few days off of school/work to go on a much needed vaca. Over the break we went with my family down to Palisades State Park for 2 days. My dad had to leave Palisades to announce a BYU football game, so that was a bummer. But he then came back down and was able to enjoy the rest of our stay! All of my mom's brothers and sisters were there and most of my cousins were there. It was so nice to spend some good quality time with my extended family!!! Here are some pictures of our Palisades weekend:

Finally being able to use our camp chairs!

On a walk around the lake

Petey decided to take a picture of me

doing the 'I'm happy I caught the football

dance!' So attractive.

On the dock

Petey insisted on giving me a piggyback

on the walk down this giant hill

haha.

The world's largest pizza couldn't

keep the Saunders clan full

This was part of the wood inside our

cabin. Doesn't it look like Sid the

Sloth from Ice Age? Anyone...??

Our cute cabin

I had to post this. After Palisades we

stopped at my house for a break and

I was able to capture this precious moment.

2 of my loves!!I love my

husband and my cat,

and they love each other :)

ha ha

USU vs. BYU Basketball Game

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE basketball. I love my Aggies and I'm so happy that my brother was able to play 4 years of college basketball for them. The USU vs. BYU basketball game was last Friday and it was nuts! People started camping out for the Friday game on TUESDAY morning! Petey and I didn't really want to camp out....so we decided to get up at 5am on Friday morning to go and sit. I had to work at the bookstore all day, so my awesome husband sat outside the arena ALL DAY so we could get good-ish seats at the game. Our friends Jason, Mallori, and Nate sat with us at the game too. Petey even helped me make a sign for the game. It was awesome :) I think one of the reasons that I dislike BYU so much is because I'm from Utah County. I never wanted to attend BYU, never applied (even though I would've gotten half tuition...just sayin') , and I wanted to go to Utah State and I've loved every minute of it. Most of the people from my high school either went to BYU or UVU....but I'm so glad that I made the choice to go to USU.

Anyways...the basketball game was crazy and so much fun to be a part of. There were some signs that were on the inappropriate side, but for the most part they were funny. I'm sure most of you have heard the issue with Brandon Davies on the BYU b-ball team (if you haven't, google him). There were many signs directed toward him, some sketchy & some funny. I think my favorite was 'hey Davies, welcome back from your fornication probation.' So funny. After the awesome win Petey, Tyler, Jennie, & I went to Zeppe's to get some Italian ice. That place is legit.

Petey has a Calculus test on Friday that he's been studying extremly hard for. I can't wait for him to be done with that EVIL class! Christmas break will be really nice because we'll actually be able to spend some quality time together. Our schedules both suck right now. Like tonight for instance, I got off at 4 from the Bookstore and didn't have to work at Lee's. So I had the night off, but Petey has been really busy with a school project tonight from 6pm-8pm, and then he works from 8:30-midnight tonight. Like I said, Christmas break will be nice to have some time to just hang out :)

Well I think I might end this post since it's super long and I'm rambling on about a bajillion things. I'm going to try and get better at blogging, soon I won't have school as an excuse for me not keeping up! Yay for graduation!!!!! Then what....yikes?! Love you all! Xoxo!

October and recent happenings

I'm treating myself to a lil' blogging session tonight. I've been doing homework for like 7 hours (curse you paper!!), so this is my reward :) This weekend is Fall Break, a 'break' meaning that we get one day off of school {lame, but I'll take it}!! My family has been planning a weekend over Fall Break for the past few months. I was hoping that I could get off work from my jobs to go, and I DID!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so nervous to look at my schedule for Fall Break weekend, but when I saw that I had Thursday-Sunday off I wanted to cry tears of joy. Seriously people I need a break! Petey and I are going to head down to my house Thursday night, and we will head down to Palisades State Park Friday morning. My mom's whole side will be down in Palisades too, so that will be fun! My parents rented out a cabin for all of us too, so that will be legit. However one thing that will not be so fun, is that I have a test Monday morning, the day I get back from Fall Break. NOT COOL!! I hate having to study of long/fun weekends. Oh well :)

Petey and I haven't been up to much lately, just school and work. I finally got a Saturday off (yesterday), so I was lazy for like 20 hours and it was lovely. A few weeks ago we went down to the USU vs. BYU game, which was really fun until the last 15 seconds. We had some BYU fans turn to us and say "I'm so sorry" and I wanted to be like REALLY? Are you REALLY sorry? You just won!!! Grrr...I had to use all my energy not to scream. My mom works at BYU (which is funny, I know) so it was fun for me and Petey to hang out in her office and walk around BYU's campus wearing our Aggie gear. We got some weird looks, and we loved it :) About a month ago Petey, me, my mom, dad, and little brother Tanner went to a Real Salt Lake game. It was really fun, and a gorgeous night! Petey loves soccer, so it always makes me happy when we get the chance to go to a game. He gets so giddy haha. Here are some pictures from the game:

Smile for the camera

These people are LOVE RSL...like seriously...

Kyle Beckerham woot woot!

Under the lights

I love October when the leaves start changing...but I hate knowing that the bone-chilling winter of Logan is coming. However, I do like these things! Last week when it we had a cold spell Mr. Peter and I decided to buy some Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate (chocolate raspberry flavor!) I love hot chocolate!!! I finally got to use my Minnie Mouse cup too!

I especially love whipped cream and sprinkles!

I'm a sprinkles freak.

I LOVE Count Chocula. I had a freak-out

attack when I saw this in the store.

It's probably the unhealthiest cereal

on the plant and I. Love. It.

This is a bad picture, but these are mini brownie

bites with orange chocolate chips. Love!

I'm a sucker for 'cute things'!! My husband has

to restrain me from buying every cute thing

I see haha.

I decorated for Halloween a few days ago. I love decorating! I just wish I had some more stuff! I'm sure I'll build up a collection in time....

Love him! SO cute

Ghosts around the window

This cute sign on our nasty door

I'm really excited about our vacation this weekend! I'll take lots of pictures, and I'm going to try to get better at blogging! I also need someone to tutor me on how to make the sidebars of my blog cute with pictures and such....I need help! Also...I need help with a Halloween costume! What should I be?!!!!

Love you all! Happy October :)

Life....

Don't worry friends....we are still alive. I've wanted to blog a lot lately, but I seriously haven't had time! This whole working 2 jobs thing, and trying to be a student takes up 99% of my time, especially recently! During last week I had 3 exams, and last week was also the (STUPID) Case Lot at the Lee's Marketplace. If Case Lot were a physical item, I would punch it multiple times, as hard as I could. I'm so sick of seeing cans!!! Since it was Case Lot I was scheduled over my maximum hours (which is 12)...I was actually scheduled 22 hours. I had a little freak out because I work 17 hours at my other job, and working 40 hours a week while going to school isn't very fun. Luckily I got someone to take one of my shifts, so that helped a little. This week (STUPID) Case Lot continues...and I have one exam and 2 papers due. I'm am sooooo looking forward to this weekend. My plan is to do absolutely nothing this weekend and I'm so excited!!!! Petey the past 2 weeks has had an Organic Chemistry exam, a Calculus exam (barf), and a Communicable Diseases exam. We've been busy lately....but we've already made plans to do something fun this weekend, so hopefully my next blog post will be more exciting :) Life has been a little stressful lately, but we are alive! I hope I can survive until Friday!