Zach and Alexa

Our summer

2011-09-16T19:32:00.024-06:00

This summer we played lots of softball. We hung out at Bear Lake. I went to the American Idol Tour in Salt Lake. We had our first family reunion on my mom's side. Our nephew Mason was born. My friend Kassie got married. And Zach has become absolutely obsessed with golf. I don't mind driving the cart and looking for balls though. It has been fun to see Zach and Greg bond with this sport. I just wish he could have chosen a cheaper hobby.

something new!

2011-02-28T18:05:00.007-07:00

Wow..should I even bother keeping up with this thing considering it's been over 2 months since my last post!?

I feel like I never have anything to write about because all we do is work..go to school...and watch tv, sad but true. We feel so busy- but don't really have anything to show for it other than grades and free hours at the hospital haha.

We are both in the second semester of our programs. (Alexa: Radiology) (Zach: Athletic Training) I'm still doing 24 clinical hours a week at the hospital and driving to Weber for class every Tuesday. I'm also still trying to work on top of all that..trying..being the key word. I only get like 10 hours a week. At least I'll be done with school around this time next year!

Poor Zach has to drive to Weber 4 times a week. But, the new part of our life is that Zach got a new job! He has been looking for a job as a physical therapy aide and finally got one. We are pretty excited that he landed one in Ogden. It doesn't pay all that great, but it works out for him already being in Ogden all the time for school. He also really needs paid experience in the medical field since he wants to apply for PA school when he graduates his program. You have to have a certain number of hours paid hours to even be considered so it will be great. He is MOST excited that he is moving on from the painting world. He will also umpire this spring/summer every saturday. We've already made one trip to St. George this year for baseball but it got rained out. We head back down for another tournament over spring break.

Other than that..life remains the same. Oh, I did turn 21 on Feb. 6th...we may have gone to a casino in mesquite..just because we can now haha...

Since I don't take pictures anymore I might as well do a blast from the past! Just to see how far we've come ;) At least he won't have to come home looking like this anymore.

The Simple Things

2010-12-15T16:48:00.002-07:00

I miss being able to call & text you
I miss getting your advice
I miss playing Nintendo with you
I miss having date nights with you and Casey
I miss making you PB&J toast
I miss going to your office just to say hi
I miss getting your help with homework
I miss you teasing me and making me laugh
I miss your dutch oven cooking
I miss camping and 4wheeling

Mostly I just miss spending time with you...

I won't be able to make anymore memories with my big brother, I'll only be able to remember the old ones. Life really is too short especially when it comes to the simple things. I feel guilty for taking these little things for granted when Erik was still here. I hope everyone remembers what Christmas is really about and takes the time to make special memories with your loved ones- because you never know when they will be taken from you. Life won't ever be the same-we will just begin to get used to a new "normal" but even after 2 years, I don't feel like we're there yet.

I'm still trying to remember the simple things. . .

photo booth fun

2010-11-19T11:10:00.006-07:00

Easily amused.....

I don't know whether to think these are funny...or downright embarrassing!!

Fall Fun & Year One

2010-11-07T12:50:00.011-07:00

Wow..I guess I only update my blog seasonally now. Since school started we have been super busy. Things that have happend lately-

Zach turned 21 on Oct. 26

(my little school boy on his B-day)

Of course he went deer hunting this year, but no luck

We are finishing up our first semester in less than a month

Zach has been playing rec basketball and flag football, I have been the #1 fan
We went to St. George for a weekend-Zach umpired 12 baseball games and I sold t-shirts
We celebrated our first anniversary on Nov. 5th!

On Friday Zach had these beautiful flowers delivered to my work and I wasn't even expecting him to be so thoughtful haha I mean..he is a man right? He even had a cute little note inside that said "thanks for the best year of my life" what a SWEETHEART right?? Well he even got us a hotel in SLC so Friday night we drove down there and went to Olive Garden. The next day we rode the trax around town and went to the Gateway. I think Zach was a little jealous that we weren't going to the Utah vs. TCU game...there were fans everywhere, but the Utes got their butts kicked- so it probably wasn't a good game. Anyways we did the other traditional stuff-ate the top layer of our cake....it didn't look too appetizing considering it was in the freezer for a year, but it didn't taste too bad! We also watched our wedding video which was so cute :)

All in all it was a perfect anniversary! The past year has been tough, but so rewarding too. We have had lots of fun! One down-Eternity to go, love you boo!!! :)

His + Hers

2010-08-19T16:17:00.004-06:00

Yikes!

And the panic sets in.....

Oregon

2010-07-17T18:36:00.014-06:00

Me, Zach mom, dad, Greg, and Molly (dog) went to Eugene, Oregon for a week to watch Greg play baseball-and to have a nice family vacation! It involved:

Lots of {driving}

Lots of {baseball}

Lots of {trees}

Lots of {eating}

Lots of {hot} weather

Lots of {shopping}

Lots of FUN

One of our many pictures in the car

Molly was tired--80% of the time her tongue is sticking out, no big deal :)

outlet malls..Greg likes to pull retarded faces and Zach was sick of shopping and i'm just a dork :)

But we got these {sweet sneaks}-so he can't complain
{Pretty blues} ((eyes))

Oregon=lots of trees and cool {fog} by the ocean

Many many windmills on the horizon of the Columbia River

We went EVERYWHERE! We drove halfway to Boise the first day and went to a sweet waterpark. Then we drove to Hines and stayed the night. The next day we drove all the way to Eugene OR. Other places we visited were: Salem, and Portland to see cousin Kim :) and we traveled the coast.

Thanks mom and dad we had a wonderful trip!!!

Bear Lake

2010-07-04T16:02:00.010-06:00

On Saturday we went to Bear Lake to spend a day on the beach and go boating. I'm so mad that it turned out to be super cold! We still managed to have some fun though!

I knew Zach's hat from Jamaica would come in handy :)

Little Riot enjoying his caprisun

Happy Mamacitas!

(Zach's mom and my mom)

Me and the captain!

Karlie and I are the only ones that would go on the tube in the freezing water. Here is the before picture..

Here is the after picture...my dad asked me if it was cold when we fell off...doesn't my face explain it enough? Karlie wanted to go again of course-she is so fun I love that girl!

Well Zach and I are headin to Oregon this week with my family. Hope you all have a happy 4th!

Balloon to Heaven

2010-06-24T20:55:00.029-06:00

I sent a balloon to Heaven today. I watched it float up into the clouds until I could no longer see it. With it I sent a wish..a wish that my brother had a good birthday. Today he would have been 24.

He has the most beautiful headstone I have ever seen. Too bad the stupid birds always poop on it.

Happy Birthday Erik

We love you

2010-05-28T11:47:00.004-06:00

10 things

Thanks Raquel and Kaitlin!

Terms of this award: must list 10 things about yourself, thank the person who gave you this award, and pass it on to 10 wonderful bloggers.

1. I sleep with my contacts in every night..I know it's bad. But, I am paranoid that if something happens during the night, I need to see!!

2. Zach and I have been married about 7 months and HE is already baby hungry-it's your fault Karlie! But we will be finishing school and getting jobs before I ever even consider that! (but we do have names picked) haha

3. I can only fall asleep if I'm on my belly, with my hand under my face, with the fan on.

4. Zach and I just got new phones-2 for $50 super sweet! Palm Pre and Palm Pixie

5. I hate blow drying my hair!! I get really hot and when I'm hot I'm very ornery. If only Zach would let me cut my hair short..like to my shoulders.

6. We are so very very happy that LEE DEWYZE won American Idol haha we never missed an episode!

7. I love playing Yahtzee and Phase 10 with Zach. It's one of our favorite things to do when we're bored!

8. We go out to eat and go to movies a little more frequently than we should...mainly Firehouse, Cafe Rio, and Old Grist Mill. Lately we've seen: Date Night, Iron Man 2, and Robin Hood. and..Prince of Persia came out today... woohoo

9. I love DVR and $1 Redbox movies! Oh what would we do without them!

10. Grandma takes me, mom, and my aunt out to a yummy lunch EVERY Friday. Boy do I love Fridays!

I tag: Karlie, Amy, Gentry, Kaylee, Kylie, Amber, and Tia!

really?

2010-05-11T12:59:00.002-06:00

How does a cell phone fall out of your pocket and land in a bucket of stain? Well I don't really know but you can ask Zach! Of all places-it falls into a bucket of STAIN? Haha the funny thing is...it still works!? He took it all apart and wiped it down and somehow it still functions just fine. Well.. except for the screen.. it is a little dark and hard to see because it literally got stained. Even though the phone still works...calls just fine, charges just fine, rings...ect.- he still thinks he needs a new one. hmm are you sure it "fell" out of your pocket Zachary? Or are you just wanting a new phone because I'm getting my upgrade soon!
Haha I just thought it was rather amazing that a phone can still work after being submerged in stain. However, I don't suggest you try this at home-you may not be so lucky!

When Will I?

2010-05-04T12:36:00.003-06:00

As Memorial Day and your Birthday are getting closer I keep having questions continually flood my mind. I thought I would write them down to get them out of my head for a while.

When will I stop having dreams that you're still alive? So alive that when I wake up, reality overcomes me and leaves me feeling disappointed that you were so close. The dreams are so real-we have conversations; your voice sounds so clear and distinct. Will your voice begin to fade?

When will I have a relationship with Gregory like I did with you? When he gets married? That won't be forever. When he gets over the teenage stage? He may be my "big" brother but he will never be my older brother.

When will I stop feeling bad about all the mean things I ever said and did to you? You know I was just a bratty, teenage, little sister right? I wish I could tell you sorry in person.

When will Mom and Dad truly be happy again? When will that hole be filled? What can I do?

When will all the memories I have of you begin to fade away? When I grow old without you-will I still remember the little things you told me- like when you told me you wanted to name your first little boy Lincoln so you could call him "link"

When will I have kids? Will they have already met their Uncle Erik while they were in Heaven? I hope so. You would have been the best Uncle...

When will I get to see you again? A year and a half has gone by and it feels like it's been forever. I wish I knew the exact date of the Second Coming so I could count down. Will it really be 2012 like some say? That movie freaked me out.

When will I fully understand why all of this has happened?

When will I?

I did it- I got in!!

2010-04-06T15:44:00.002-06:00

FINALLY- no more anticipating, no more playing the waiting game, no more being a nervous wreck- because I got accepted into the Radiology Program at Weber State!! I will start this Fall and go to class there a couple times a week and also do 24 clinical hours a week at The Logan Regional Hospital! We don't have to move. YaY! I have been working at this for a long time and now finally something has come of it! I'm very excited to get started. It feels good to know what I'm actually going to do with my life now.

Powerade for life!

2010-03-29T21:32:00.003-06:00

So I told Zach that I found Powerade on sale for 25 cents a bottle and he went nuts! We were on powerade outings for 3 days because everywhere was sold out! He made me call Smiths, Smith's Market Place and both Walmarts everyday to see if they got anymore in stock. So finally after going from store to store each day and searching for different flavors we ended up with a total of 128 bottles of freaking Powerade!!! It is a little excessive if you ask me but Zach thinks it's just the greatest thing to have one for work everyday and not have to buy pop or anything forever. I guess our spare bedroom comes in good use to store our Powerade. . .The picture does make me thirsty though :)

Ready or not- here we come!

2010-03-26T11:45:00.002-06:00

So.. Zach and I recently got a calling together at church. We are going to be teaching our first primary class on Sunday. What age might you ask? The cute little 5 year olds! I hope they are all well-behaved, polite, cute, loving munchkins! Am I asking too much? Guess we will find out soon! We are so excited to be able to teach together, I think it will be a blast! But they told us they don't like teachers to bring treats anymore unless it really ties into the lesson..WHAT?! I always got treats in primary growing up. Plus I thought that would give us some major brownie points with the kids! Zach thinks we should somehow tie treats into every lesson haha. I just hope we can keep them occupied for the whole hour!

Feb-March update!

2010-03-08T12:52:00.004-07:00

Well I guess it's time to update since it has been a month now. . .

First, it was my 20th birthday on Feb. 6th and that was really fun. I hung out with family and friends and of course went to dinner with my honey. My friend Kailani and I have the same birthday and our friend Saje's is the day after so we always get together for a good time! My friend Kassie's birthday was March 2nd and we all went to Texas Roadhouse-she had to saddle up and it was so funny! Even though I'm the only married one out of my close group of friends, we still hang out and have lots of fun-thanks girls!

A while ago Zach and I drove to St. George to watch my brother play baseball. It was so warm and now Zach thinks he wants to move there someday--sorry, it's too far from home :) I could barely tolerate the 6 hour drive! Greg's girlyfriend came with my brother and parents and we all had a fun time watching baseball, eating out, watching movies, and shopping! We went to Vegas one night and drove down the strip..it was..interesting to say the least. We also got to visit Zach's cousins Jared, Tia, and their little girl Sophie- she is a doll! Then we also visited Matt, Amber, their cutie Dylan, and the new baby Simone-what a darling baby! It was so nice to see them since we hardly ever get to!

Heaven on earth right here-We seriously went there everyday! Yeah-we're fatties!

Goin to the baseball game

Greggy and Meggy

Zach got a job at Walmart as a grocery stocker--but it was graveyard shift, from 10-6:30 in the morning! He only lasted 2 weeks haha and I'm so glad because I absolutely hated it! I hated going to bed by myself and hating him sleeping all day-it's like we were on 2 different planets! But I think he hated it more and didn't really like the idea of me being home alone every night. Thank goodness painting has picked up again and he will hopefully stay busy working for his brother now that it's getting warmer! Finally!
Last but not least, we found out that Grandpa Phipps has some type of cancer. :( They are still running tests but he had to have surgery to remove a tumor in his chest. So far he is doing well, I hope he conquers it and gets better soon! On a happier note- we went to see him before he had his surgery and they had him on some pain meds so he was a little loopy...he was saying the craziest things and called me Matilda!? Not sure where that came from but it sure was cute!

Well that's all for this month haha-Thanks for reading!

Our little buddies

2010-02-10T19:46:00.007-07:00

This last weekend Zach and I babysat our niece and nephew for 3 whole days...and it was a BLAST! They were so good and me and Zach had fun playing mommy and daddy. Zach and Riot were best buddies! They played in the snow together and Zach built a fort for him-Riot called it a fart. But unfortunatley 2 year old's don't stay interested for long and he didn't really appreciate it as much as Zach did ;) Tayvia was crawling like crazy and getting into everything in sight. We love these kids so much and Zach is the best Uncle in the world I'd have to say! They were probably ready to get the heck out of here by the time day 3 rolled around but right after they left me and Zach missed our little buddies! Thanks for trusting us with your children Karlie! :)She is so stinkin' cute-I can't get enough of her

This handsome boy is dang smart and has the funniest little personality-He knows how to make you laugh

A crappy picture of Riot in his fort!

~DiSnEyLaNd~

2010-01-27T11:16:00.009-07:00

I finally got the pictures from my dad of when we went to DISNEYLAND! Me, Zach, mom, dad, and Greg went around Christmas time and it was so much fun! It was a perfect time to go. You could just walk right on to almost all of the rides and it was nice jacket weather! Of course everyone there thought it was freezing-most people were in their winter coats, but it was warm to us! We stayed all dang day and night-really fun..but aching feet afterwards! Gregory had never been so it was funny to watch how excited he got haha! Here are some pics..little bit of an overload-sorry!

Dad was too scared to go- so took pictures instead!

Zacho, Pluto, and Greg

My boys

The Mom and Dad

We love Minnie!

And Mickey!

But I love him the most! This is my favorite pic-dang cute huh!

Bugs Life! 3D

We are some pretty cute bugs!

It did get rather chilly I'd have to say. . .

Last but not least-my favorite part of it all!! My magical, gorgeous, huge, Princess Castle! I've always wished I could live there... :)

Thanks for taking us Mom and Dad!

A little stressed..

2010-01-21T14:05:00.006-07:00

Well... I don't have much to blog about lately-we are just a couple of poor, boring, newlyweds. Things kind of suck right now- Zach is my little stay at home husband for now. He doesn't have any work painting and has been trying to find a new job but so far has had no luck. It feels like he has applied everywhere and no one is hiring. I'm still working at USU research foundation but they only allow me to work 20 hours a week. We are still planning on going to Weber in the Fall. I applied to the radiology program so I hope I get accepted. Zach still wants to do athletic training and then physical therapy. We love our place and don't want to move so we might be making the commute to Ogden once school starts but we'll see. All we ever do is hang out with Karlie and Eric and the kiddies- we can't get enough of them. Next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Zach and I will be babysitting them while Karlie and Eric go on their cruise-I'm excited! But I think 3 of the 9 days will be enough for us ;)
Well I have no pictures. . .blogs are boring to read without pictures I know- sorry! Not too much is going on right now- hopefully my next blog will say that Zach got a job!...keep your fingers crossed!

Merry Christmas Big Brother

2009-12-21T17:03:00.005-07:00

Christmas is going to be hard this year. I have found comfort through writing poems to express my feelings. It is easier than talking about it and it's easier than holding it all in.

God took you home with him last Christmas Eve,

Although it was your time, I didn't want you to leave.

It seemed way too soon...why did you have to die?

I didn't even get a chance to say one last goodbye.

I felt sad not seeing you on my wedding day,

But I know you were there in your own special way.

Things are different now, never to be the same.

My heart melts a little whenever I hear your name.

Growing up, I strived to be just like you-

I followed you around like little sisters do.

As long as I keep following, I'll see you again someday,

Until that time approaches, I'll just continue to pray.

Christmas time is here again; you know it makes us sad-

Memories fill our heads of the good times that we've had.

We should smile and be happy-because it's comforting to hear

That you'll be spending Christmas with Jesus again this year.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas and remembers what it's truly about.

Merry Christmas big brother- I love you.

Honeymoon Pics!

2009-12-16T21:20:00.001-07:00

Zach tries to be a good sport for pictures

Cozumel Mexico!

Ziplining with the Jamaicans!!

Captains Dinner

Our cruise was so fun! Being back here in the snow is not so fun. . .

Back to Reality

2009-11-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well we are back now from our honeymoon and that means back to work. Zach is still painting for his brother and I'm still working at the USU Research Foundation. We are planning to go to Weber next Fall. My wedding was everything I dreamt it would be and more! We love our new duplex that we are renting here in Logan. We are so blessed to have gotten in this home because- it's brand new, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage (so so so nice for winter), and it has been so fun to decorate and have a place to call our own. Our honeymoon was awesome and we had so much fun. Our cruise went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman Island, and Cozumel Mexico. We did a zipline through the rainforest in Jamaica as well as the Jamaican bobsled. But my favorite excursion was in Grand Cayman- it was called Sea Trek. Pictures to come!

Starting Our New Journey!

2009-11-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Zach and I will be getting married in two days, so I decided we should start a blog so everyone can keep up with us. We were high school sweethearts and Zach finally proposed to me on July 3rd. We will be getting married November 5th in the Logan Temple. I can't believe how fast our wedding date has crept up on us- but we are so ready to get married and leave for our wonderful cruise to the Caribbean together! We are so excited to start our new lives together forever and ever! I'll post more after the honeymoon and let you know how our wedding went and make you jealous of how fun our trip was!