Will it Blend?

I discovered maybe a real life "lifesaver" a Blentec

Those of you who know me, maybe not even well, know that I do not like fruit.

I never have. I refused to eat it when I was little, etc. etc...

Before this bad boy- I might have been the most unhealthy person you know. How I am not 500 lbs is beyond me. My diet consisted of a few basic things... ice cream, candy, peanut butter, bread, and noodles. It is a huge joke in my family that I am on the "white diet." And my brothers say that my anti-fruit attitude has now become an identity and a way to get attention. B.S.

It is never fun to be at a shower, in your honor, and literally play with your food...

Shower food is my least favorite- its always like very very small appetizers. Rolls and salad. And then treats in abundance or fruit platters... It's my struggle.

Luckily, I have this great friend, who acts as an assistant and we sort of switch off with the fruits, for example I'll get strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple- and she won't. And then slowly she eats mine and then Ta-Da! It looks like I ate it! We have been tricking people for years.

Anyways. back to the Blendtec...

The problem for me with fruit is the texture. So when my Mother-in-law introduced me to this baby I was smitten. This magical blender can blend up ANYTHING! (yes, this is the one on youtube where they blend an iPad, watch here). So my Mother-in-law was being all healthy and I was jealous so I wanted to get in on it, so I tried one of her fruit and veggie creations.

I told my parents about this blender that can make all your dreams come true, (I told them it would be the perfect going away present ha) and I think that they were pretty impressed with my argument and the fact that I was consuming fruit. That my sweetest Dad surprised me by packing our car for Ft. Collins and hiding a Blendtec in there. I didn't even notice until we got to Ft. Collins. And was screaming in the parking lot.

We are major Blendtec users and have one every day! We have used our bad boy 134 time to date.

So I truly think that this has put 5 maybe 10 years back on my life expectancy... and has definitely help prevent diabetes. Lifesaver.

(sorry for the overload of picture- but when after 22 years you start to eat fruit it is sort of a huge deal so you take a lot of pictures and send them to people to show them what's up)

en route Gillette, Wyoming.

We were very sad to leave Ft. Collins. We have really enjoyed our time there and everything that the fun little college town has to offer. We would love to go back and visit (it was like a mission for me).

but how hot is Jeff in this picture? Woo

 We truly were spoiled here! Is it a little sad that our favorite part was the washer/dryer. It was magical.

And we're off... 

It was so nice of the hotel to recognize Moby as a person and give him his own bed. Either that or they assumed that we were "having problems" as a couple and would need two beds. I don't know if I'm appreciative of their thoughtfulness or offended. And we do have a little kitchenette. And I did make eggs in a tea kettle- they worked out fine.

First things first.I spotted a Maverick on our way in and was in such a state of joy- I immediately fed my addiction and inhaled a delicious DC. And I was so happy to see the same summer deal as in SL- $1/Large Drink!

Also, I have had one of these every day...

Jeff? or Big Hunk?

...uh-oh...

Oh, Gillette.

So far, so good.

Being in a hotel has actually served me well- because I do not like to be kept in one room that somehow manages to be a bedroom, living room, small study area, and kitchen all day I have kept quite busy staying out and about. Its basically a condensed house.

Um, Rec center... aka awesome place to spend time has been super. This largest place ever has a huge rock climbing wall, free tanning, tennis, racketball, basketball, running track, full gym, lap pool, waterpark equipped with 2 outdoor waterslides, and foodcourt. This place is so large it amazes me. It is bigger than the Delta Center (what's Energy Solutions?)

I also love the view from my "house." Fields of amber followed by Kmart, Walmart, and KFC.

I have enjoyed my long showers filled with small sprinkles from the watering can shower head. However the hotel does compensate with 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner. That saves a little time.

Oh my phone service! You have altered my iPhone appreciation by miles. In Ft. Collins my phone would be dead at 10 am from searching for service. It sort of worked outside, but mostly it just worked best downtown. But here I can actually play around with my phone- Can you imagine getting a new phone, and not just any phone but an iPhone and not even being able to experience it? I think those following me on instagram and twitter have all noticed my comeback. I also think that my iPhone obsession shows in my post lately- every photo has been instagrammed..

The restaurants here are fun... I told Jeff I love to look around at the different businesses here to see what it's all about. There is actually a Pizza sign advertising a Pizza place that doesn't exist- that makes me sad. I was excited when I saw the sign. There is also a Fresh Donuts sign with no store attached to it either.

Tonight we went to a "nice" restaurant. And it actually is really nice and was quite delicious. But the waitress kept calling me "girl." Which doesn't sound that weird until I put it into context "Can I get you anything to drink girl?" "And what would you like girl?" "Here is your food girl."

It was so weird. But she did totally botch my order, gave me chicken instead of salmon... How do you do that? And when we asked her if the house was taking care of it, she didn't even respond. So we had to talk to the hostess. Don't worry we got it handled. There's $20.00 kept in our wallets! It was entertaining and delicious and we will probably go back!

The people of Gillette have some pretty sweet style- Three of Jeff's sales here have asked him if they get a free hat? Now, Jeff likes his hat so much that I couldn't even find a picture of him wearing it- but I took one of me in it for you! haha- I love that they want a hat. He actually already gave one away.

Anyways... We are only in Gillette for a couple of weeks. But I really want to get my honky tonk on while I am here- I am going to buy a cowboy hat and wear it like I was born here. The other thing I could do it buy liquor since people do that a lot here and need like 20 liquor stores- so I'll get on that too.

iPhone

We are proud owners of iPhones! And we are both very obsessed.

Jeff's phone has been struggling for some time and mine recently got a VERY large crack. And we have held off apple for some long... but we finally caved. After Jeff got an iPad- he was hooked. And I kept telling Jeff that if he was getting one- I was getting one too. It was only fair.

And we decided that it would be our anniversary gift to each other.

But we couldn't wait until then because Jeff NEEDS a phone for his work and no way he was getting without me!

so HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.. in 31 days!

But we have never owned any mac products so we are amateurs+

So feel free to help us, and let me know some good apps that I should get!

THANKS!

oh hey

oh hey... {not looking at the camera}
today took me a long time to do this to my hair, so appreciate it for what it is.
thanks

tonight is... Movie Night

This week Jeff is selling in Gillette. We have two more weeks at this apartment so I am staying here until the lease is up and then we will be moving into an extended stay hotel in Gillette for a couple weeks, and then to Jackson Hole.

Right now he is staying at a funny hotel called the Howard Johnson... haha.

He says it's super nice... No, it's not nice at all.

So tonight is movie night for me and Moby!

Instead of redbox they have Blockbuster Express...

Except they are way dumb and charge $2.00 for new releases. LAME!

But guys, I am being super brave! Considering my guard dog is useless.

But I do feel secure that his bark scares people off.

I am also becoming VERY good at killing spiders and somewhat fearless.

And I think that I have sort of figured them out too. I kind of know where they hide so I am usually prepared. But I'm also pretty darn sure they are HOBOS!

Happy Father's Day

My Dad is super funny... but obviously I am too.

I think this picture is so sweet, with me and my Dad dancing at my wedding and my Mom watching...

Happy Father's Day to all you Father's out there!

My Dad has always been such a good example to me. He is such a good husband to my Mom and has always been someone that you can count on. I have learned so much from him about hardwork. He is so passionate about things he loves (golf, snowmobiling). He loves learning new things and experiencing new places- he is always taking us to new restaurants he read about in the paper, sometimes they land us in weird places. He is so sweet and nice and always shares my excitements.

As I have been living away from my Dad this summer, so far a whopping month! woot woot!

It has been a huge change. I notice that when I have problems with my car, my phone, school, the bank- I ALWAYS go to my Dad!

Just the other day- I made a bad decision of pulling over and stopping at one of those 'Free Rock Chip Repairs' And so I thought great! I have two! I was told that it would be free with my insurance- I thought great again, I have insurance and two rick chips repairs.

So I have to call and make a claim to my insurance... bla bla bla so I did.

However the insurance for some reason couldn't find my policy number. So I kinda got freaked out and canceled the calim.

The Rock Chip guy then said that they could still do the repair and they didn't want to leave me with two rock chips after all my trouble.

Ok, great again, free rock chip repair.

After being a little freaked out I called my Dad and told him the story.

The next day I heard from Rock Chip Repair and they wanted me to call me insurance and make a claim so that they could bill the insurance company.

Again, I freaked out and literally made my Dad listen to the message and handle it. Which he did. He called them and explained that I was not fully informed, and was under the impression tat I was getting a free service- so too bad but maybe you (rock chip guy) just have to bite this one in the butt. They did- haven't heard from them since!

My Dad has taken care of me and it is hard for me to now turn my problems over to the new man of the house: Jeff. But it's happening and it is probably a weight off of my Dad's shoulder's!

And Happy Father's Day to Gerry (Jeff's Dad). Gerry is always considerate of others and is always interested in what is going on in your life. Jeff goes to him about everything. He is super financial savvy and helps us make smart decisions. I appreciate everything that he does for us and everything he does with no complaints.

Also, Happy Father's Day to Dan, Micheal, Ryan, and Erik (to be in October).

You guys are all so great and are such good example to us of Father's!

Family Visit

We were so lucky to have visitors this week! It was so much fun to enjoy Ft. Collins with family!

Since my Dad and all the boys were gone on a fishing trip. My Mom and sister came to visit. We were able to take advantage of MANY delicious eats and very pretty sights.

WARNING: picture overload.

At Colorado State, they have a very pretty garden that I have been dying to go and look at. And Since my Mom s way into gardening I thought it would be perfect. It was. She loved it. They have hundreds of flowers planted in rows and rows, so it was so fun to walk around this.

This is a HUGE fraternity house! WOAH!

And I just loved this posh picture of Winston.

Cheesecake Factory in Denver.

Gelato in Old Town

The Aquarium in Denver was amazing.

And of course I had to wait ten minutes in line for this picture.

I think Tigers are the most Royal looking animals. Right there is Kate Middleton.

This was huge shark tank. And this was the scariest and biggest shark.

This is the vegetarian shark in Nemo, he's so nice!

This picture was a struggle to get. As you can see Winston is not shown. Here is the final product. Below is the process. Everyone is upset with Winston.

Baby Elliott

It was such a blast to have them here! And they were such troopers to stay in our little apartment! Moby was a little too excited to see my Mom (kinda hurt my feelings). We had so much fun shopping in Old Town and the Outlets (eek, J. Crew is still stealing my money and I don't even get my killer discount- I guess I still would've spent the same, just gotten more).

It was a little bit cloudy but ti was actually nice, we only want/need sunshine if we're at the pool. Since we weren't it was nice. We went to the Farmer's Market- YUM! We had fun visiting the pretty campus flowers. We visited my cousin and his family on their farm which was really fun. Spent a day in Denver going to the aquarium and a darling darling darling part of town: Cherry Creek. Absolutely beautiful homes, shopping! Ah, LOVE.

Of course we had some funny moments:

-Winston peed his pants in the car, multiple times.

-the blow-up mattress definitely had a hole in it, but Caitlin, Winston, and the baby continued to sleep on it night after night (we bought a new one the last day).

-Winston threw a tantrum at the Farmer's Market and laid on the road for 15 minutes screaming.

-I ate an entire bag of kettle corn for lunch.

-Accidentally washed news jeans with whites- oops.

taste of Ft. Collins

There was kind of a little fair in town. Or super similar to the fair.

We went to the Taste of Ft. Collins this weekend, and it was somewhat of a rip-off. But it was a fun atmosphere with rides and way too much food with top notch dollars for it. So we decided paying to go in and walk around just to leave and eat somewhere else was worth it...

That is exactly what we did. We stopped in and walked around in the sunshine blazing hot heat and then decided to ditch out and go to a restaurant instead.

Pizza = always a good idea.

And there was a bus painting station...

But my most favorite was this part...

That is Jeff plugging his ears. And Ashlyn plugging her ears.

Just some background information Ashlyn is 5 going on 16. Not a joke. She has so much spunk and personality. I have multiple adult conversations with her; we often talk about the Bachelorette, laying out at the pool, how we do our hair, and Justin Bieber. These are also conversations I have with my 23 year old best friend...

Just the other day she and Jeff were boyfriend and girlfriend. It was a love at first sight and I was ok with it. However the other day they had a disagreement. Ashlyn got a balloon at the fair and apparently it wasn't tied on tight enough and ended up flying away. Jeff was walking behind her and so of course she assumed it was Jeff's fault. This obviously led to a tiff anf they broke up.

Ashlyn said she wasn't going to ever talk to Jeff again. Which resulted in this...

As you can tell Jeff is super mature and decided to taunt a 5 year old girl who recently had her heart broken. Poor thing.

The breakup has been strong so far... but we'll see.

Wahoo's

We are SURROUNDED by delicious eats! It is super lame that Jeff is gone all the time, but also a blessing to my summer bod! However on Saturdays when Jeff gets home we usually go out to a fun restaurant. So on Saturday we went to Wahoo's. When Jeff was on his mission he loved this place so I was excited to try it. It was yum!

HI! This is good!

On a different note: My Mama cita and sista from another mista (not really..) are coming to VISIT! They will be here tomorrow! I am way excited.

We are going to kill it here in Ft. Collins. They don't even know what's coming!

On another different note: We have a spider problem!

I think that I kill a mega killer everyday!

This has to stop! I think they are hobos too! I keep telling Jeff that I will get bit in the face and have a crater- then he will feel bad for not complaining to the apartments.

But really it is a problem. Just last night, we were getting ready for bed and Jeff saw a spider and as soon as I heard him say spider since I didn't know where it was I freaked and didn't know where to go to protect myself. Literally my heart was pounding and I sensed my death. Somehow I managed to somewhat jump on the counter backwards and kind of land in the sink and spill out my contacts and toothpaste myself.

Jeff murdered it, but I was still really shook up and Jeff kept apologizing and saying that it wasn't his fault- so I shouldn't be so mad haha. It was pretty funny. Well no it wasn't funny. Nothing about spiders is funny. But he was pretty surprised about how much it affected me.

Sleepy Time

I thought this might be entertaining to you...

Just don't judge us on the bed, we didn't pick it out.

And I put the picture in black and white because the bedspread is emerald green...

Anyways... this is a king size bed, this is where the pillows are- and yes we do sleep with our heads on the pillows. Every morning Jeff gets up and show me with his hands how much room he has every night. I think I may be a little clingy when it comes to sleeping because I am locked to his side, as you can tell from the photo. He has a little tiny corner of the bed and Jeff always says that there are miles of white next to me. I think that I would be fine sleeping in a twin bed.

I think I like to be so close because 1) I love Jeff oodles 2) I am probably the only person who slept in a twin bed growing up. Everyone I know was spoiled and had a queen.

We may be the only people married who actually cuddle in their sleep.

I believe that I only need a bed the size of me

Rain

Yesterday was uber sunny!

I even got sunburned at the pool!

And then that night out of NOWHERE the biggest hail/thunder/rainstorm

ever happened! It was the most violent storm I think I have ever seen.

The swimming pool was like a wave pool!

This is a little gully our apartment has in the little courtyard area. And it was atleast 3 feet of water/snow in 5 minutes. It was insane! You can't see it, but there is a bench in there.

And we found out today that 34 units flooded. And it is supposed to hail tonight... we'll see!

SLC wedding: Ellen and Gabe

How stunning is she?

I came home for a SLC wedding this last week. short trip four day trip.

But gosh, am I a loyal friend or what?

The beautiful bride Ellen has been a long long longtime friend.

We grew up together since little times. We went to the same preshcool...highschool.

Our parents have been friends since they were younger. Its a magical friendship!
The wedding celebration was held at Marketstreet Grill which was absolutely gorgeous!

It was perfect weather and it was so fun to see everyone.

This fine couple was nice enough to let me third wheel with them.

I even took the picture in the photo booth with them!

This is my friend who is tanner than me.

My Mom has been in celebration mode since I got home.
Apparently three weeks without a daughter = 2 year mission.It's a super strong bond between us!

I was fortunate enough to be apart of all the wedding festivities!
It was such a special day for them and I am just so happy!
Every wedding I attend in the SL temple brings me back to my wedding there
and there is nothing but the happiest feelings there.
I feel so blessed to have experienced it for myself
and know the happy feelings that the bride and groom feel and felt today!

Next up: Rachel will be getting married soon!
And I cannot wait for her to join married world.
It was so fun to chat and catch up with her
and realize how much I love wedding plans cause I was definitely grilling her.

SLC visit

This week I went back to SL for a short little visit.

I had a good friends wedding to attend.

But Before I left Ft. Collins- they had a little going away party for me (so nice)!

And since everyone in Jeff's office worked so hard we also celebrated that.

Inca is a fun little Mexican Restaurant with delicious fish tacos!

Apparently being away for three weeks really takes a tole on my Mom.

It was like my mission homecoming.

Right when I got off the plane we went to lunch with my sister.

Stopped at my brothers condo downtown- because seeing him the next day was too far away.

And stopped at my other brother's work to say hi also because the next day was too far away.

And I talked her out of taking me to my see my neighbor nannying my nephew on her first day!

I was finally able to go home, and shower the plane ride off.

Ellen's wedding reception was that night- so it was so fun to visit and see so many familiar faces!

And I am so happy for Ellen and Gabe!

Ellen did things a little different:

reception first followed by wedding ceremony and lunch the next day.

It was so fun to be able to go to everything and share the day with them!

The next day after Ellen and Gabe's beautiful afternoon, I had a little BBQ with my family.

I miss these babies so MUCH!

he is a deer in headlights...

Oh but he laughs and smiles! I can't get over it!

He's holding his head up all by himself!

He's just so rad!

The nexy day I went to lucnh with my goodies at the Dodo.

It was good to hear all te SL gossip I've beenmissing out on!

Our waitress was weird- I did not enjoy her.

And that night I had a date with my Mom, neighbor Karen, and her niece.

We went to Jane Eyre and oh my goodness it was so good!

I have never read the book, it is on my summer 'to-do' list!

But the movie was amazing and I loved it. After we met up wit my sister for fro yo.

And it was so fun to chat and catch up!

The next day I went to lunch with my parents and my Grandma. And she is the sweetest and gave me andmy two brothers our birthday gifts (summer birthdays). Because she said she doesn't want to die and forget FYI: she is super healthy and is doing well! It was way funny!

We went to Citrus Grill, where she has never been and she loved it. She ordered pizza!

Grandma Grandma Grandma!

It was such a fun little trip! And I got back just in time for my welcome home dinner and we also celebrated how well the Office did that day. Killing two birds with one stone!

As you can tell I wasn't lying when I told you how much I love lunch- in an earlier post.

It's just so fun and great to get together with everyone.

I was also able to stop by Jeff's house and see some his family before his parents head to HI.

And yes, I took them little plane ride treats. I am super nice adn thoughtful like that- and wanted you to all know that I am that nice person.

Anyways, yay for SL and visits! My Mom and sister are actually going otbe here in 2 weeks! I am super excited- it should be some dandy fun!