He's sexy and he knows it. He still loves to stare at himself in the mirror, sometimes he's being really quiet and I go check on him thinking he's being naughty but he's just sitting, staring at himself. Adorable.

Well, the world didn't end. That is a good thing, because 2013 is going to be a good year for us. I just know it.

We moved. We are renting a cute little townhouse in Provo. It is cold, there are boxes everywhere and I can't find anything I need. But it already feels like home. It is exactly where we need to be right now. Our heater is broken, I am blaming that for my laziness. It is too cold to get out from under this blanket and off of my big fluffy couch, so I'm blogging instead of unpacking. I am really excited to make a home out of this place. We can paint, we can hang stuff on the walls and I will have a lot more spare time... I'm so excited to decorate.

I quit my job. I'm kind of freaking out. 3 1/2 years ago I stopped going to school and started working full time. Mostly because I wanted to make sure Graphic Design was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I soon found out, it wasn't. I enjoy it, but it puts the kind of pressure on me that I know I couldn't handle all day, everyday for the next 45 years. I am creative and I have a good eye for design... but I don't like being paid to be creative or someone telling me how to be creative. I just don't. Anyways, it took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Once I figured it out, money was what stopped me from going back to school. Not necessarily the lack of if, but the fear of the lack of it. I get stressed when money is tight, and I'm not good at budgeting. I suck at it. Not having two incomes is going to be rough, but it will be worth it.

I am going back to school to be a teacher. Elementary Education. I had my first class last night. It was a math refresher course (haven't taken math for almost 7 years! help me!) At first I was sort of surprised at how quickly it came back to me, but then again, I've always been good at math. :) One more refresher course tonight, then real classes start Monday! eek!

The original purpose of this post was for me to write out some goals for 2013. But most of my goals are related to my news, so I thought I'd better fill you in first. Now that I've written the news, I think my time will be better spent unpacking my closet.

I'm actually a bit embarrassed to write this post. But here it goes.

I mentioned a few (TWELVE) weeks ago that I was doing a "Biggest Loser" contest with my co-workers. Let me start with this. I've honestly been really blessed and I have never really struggled with my body image. I mean, yes, there was a point in my life when I was taller than all the boys and thought I was a freakishly tall (5'11") GIANT. But I got over that pretty quick. I love myself and I love my body. I love my height and I love my curves. I really, truly do. Even when I'm at my heaviest, I still pretty much think I'm hot shiz... because I can, and I am. ;)

That being said, thanks to the stress of planning a wedding, I did gain a few (7-8ish?) lbs before I got married. I know, I know. I should have been working extra hard to look good naked and stuff, but I wasn't. And oh well.

So my work announced this contest, I joined because I'm competitive and I didn't want to be the girl that gets super fat after she gets married... and to be honest, I was probably on my way. Remember, celebration mode?? Haha. I'll wait until I have a baby to blame for that, thank you very much.

So the 12 weeks came and went, and I didn't do anything crazy, just started making better choices. I still ate pizza, taco bell and hamburgers. I just felt guilty everytime I did. I didn't want to let my team down, and yes, sometimes I would get bitter. I would say, DAN! I HATE THIS. IF I'M GOING TO GET SKINNY I'M GOING TO DO IT FOR ME!! but really, I loved it. My team didn't win. But we should have. We had 4 of the biggest losers, but unfortunately for us... one of the biggest gainers as well :-/

So... the results. I lost 19 pounds. I honestly didn't think I looked much different, but I knew I felt healthier, and my jeans did fit a little better. A lot of people said they could see a difference in my face... So I looked at some pictures. Um yeah, you can definitely see it in my face. Haha.



Roughly the same angle... Taken by Dan, sitting across from him at a restaruant. This happens a lot. oops.


Same hoodie & both mirror pics.  Tay and I were matchy, so we documented it. And yes, we just woke up.. And then again to document my progress.

So there's that.

1. First glimpse of Hogwarts!

2. I just thought this display of giant Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans was cool. :)

3. Tay and I in Hogsmeade!

4. Inside Honeyduke's Sweet Shop. Everything was so dang expensive, so I didn't buy anything, but I wanted to... $12 for a chocolate frog that doesn't even really move? Not a chance.

5. Pumpkin Juice. I didn't try it (gross) but the bottles were super cool.

6. ME DRINKING A BUTTERBEER. YES, IT WAS DELICIOUS. I want to try to make some at home, I found a recipe that sounds about right... but I've been doing the biggest loser with my work. Four more days.

7. Tay in front of Platform 9 3/4. So cool.

8. Jay Carl with his butterbeer 'stache. He's pretty cool.

All in all, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is awesome. And you should go visit.

So there I am just running my little heart out at the gym, trying to beat my PB, my heart was set on it, I tell you what! I’m wearing some new running shorts, the kind with spandex built in. They are a little too big so every stride I take they just keep riding a little further up until they are so high I might as well be wearing a pair of bunchy undies. Totally inappropriate and super embarrassing but I’m not even going to let that stop me because I’ve got legs and right now I’m running 8 min miles and kicking some serious butt… THEN a pizza guy comes into the gym with 30-40 boxes of pizza. PIZZA. AT A GYM. I try to ignore it and power through my work out but I start to cramp up because these damn shorts are bunching around my abdomen and I start smelling onions, cheese and sausage when I’m really just supposed to be smelling sweat and air conditioning. I had to cut my run short and i almost threw up. Whether it was the shorts, or the pizza I don’t even know.. but what I’m really trying to say is this. What kind of gym gives away free pizza??? sabotaging my work out and I’m sure my fellow gym go-ers diets. eff youuuu.

Last Friday me and Taylor went on a little sister trip :) destination? Bozeman, MONTANA!!!!!!!!!

We left late on Friday night... Like 9:00 PM late. yikes. My dad had gotten us a hotel in Dillon, because we had to be in Bozeman by 11 AM on Saturday. We rolled into Dillon at 3 something.. ummm I was driving and I was soooo tired but I had some Mike & Ike's to chew to keep me awake. Of course as soon as we got to Idaho we got some scratch off lottery tickets, haha that's our little tradition... We always do it at the first gas station we stop at in Idaho. We never win :(


This is what we were there for... Taylor had a modeling audition!!! She is freaking beautiful and a little twiglet. she rocked the audition but we will see what happens... The people there loved her but unfortunately they don't have the final say as to whether or not she gets the job. They send the tape to people higher up... We will see!!


After, we went to lunch at MacKenzie River Pizza.... We both got sandwiches and shared some logpoles, but we both ended up getting sick... I'll never go back. Ugh, makes me nauseous just thinking about it.


Bozeman is the cutest town ever. I wouldn't mind living there one day... There are so many cute little shops on Main Street... and we saw this bench and thought it was pretty cool so we took our pictures by it. :)



Instead of spending the night in Bozeman, we decided to drive a little bit of the way home and stay in West Yellowstone. We got stopped by some buffalo, and taylor wanted to get out of the car to get a closer pic. I almost punched her! haha they were like five feet away from the car, I was like STAY IN HERE YOU WILL DIEEEEEEEEEEE. haha :) we took a video of them because they were so cute but the video isn't posting for some reason. boooo!


So we had this whole plan that we were going to go hiking when we got there, and then in the morning go see Old Faithful and stuff.... Then we got there and the roads looked like this. The pic doesn't do it justice but the snow was like 6" deep on the roads and everyone but us was either in a giant truck or just driving a snowmobile around. The show was up to the roof of some buildings... and over the doors of the local Dairy Queen, which was a bummer because we wanted ice cream. So needless to say, we spend the entire evening inside the hotel room. didn't quite think that one through!!! It was so hard to drive our car on this that we couldn't even go anywhere to get dinner, luckily the hotel had some soup in a crock pot! We loved the hotel and the workers were so sweet to us. :) Taylor went to go get in the hot tub but there was 23489737 million men in there (after snowmobiling or something) so she just came back to the room. Then after they left the front desk called us up to tell us the coast was clear and that we could go down there. Haha.

What up. I'm 24. Which seems so old, but then I think about it, and it seems so young. It's weird, I feel like I'm so grown up because I'm married but then I still feel so young... I feel like I'm ahead of my game, when in reality pretty much all of my friends are married. Haha. and if I'm running on Utah county time, I was basically an old maid getting married at 23. ;) I had a pretty good day (WEEK) if I do say so myself. I'll start with the day, then backtrack to week. Dan and I both took the day off work, we don't get to spend a lot of days together besides sundays so we really just wanted an excuse to hang out together. I saw these pancakes on pinterest a while ago and so I made Dan make them for me. Haha. Gotta start the day off right. ;)