Days in the Life of the Withers

Pokie and Cheat Days.

2012-01-29T18:50:00.000-08:00

This week was my mom's birthday, on Wednesday. So I decided to take my monthly cheat day on the sugar and had this yummy treat for breakfast:

Brownies and ice cream. My 2nd love :)

However, I'm not sure it was worth it because it made me so sick I couldn't really eat anything else the whole day. But it was still a good day anyway. We had Panda Express for dinner, which made my sister Faith pretty sad because she got her wisdom teeth out on Wednesday and couldn't so much eat. Poor thing. Well, I joined her the rest of the weekend on the "can't eat so much" train because I ended up with tonsilitis this weekend. Did that stop me from working? Apparently not. I'm getting more and more excited to make my own schedule ;) But Brad was awesome and took good care of me.

On Friday night we went out with our good friends, the Morris :) We went to this restaurant called "Oasis Cafe"...it was super cute and like a little bistro, but the food was overpriced and under-good. My dish was super nasty, but everyone else's was ok. We then went to Leatherby's to get dessert and me to get my fav cheese fries haha. Yay for fatty food. Then we watched/slept thru the Italian Job.

Last night we went out to dinner with my fam for my mama's birthday. My grandma is in town from Idaho so she was able to come with us. We went to Olive Garden which was easy on the throat so I appreciated that.

Today Brad and I had a meeting with the bishop before church. I wasn't actually gonna go to church because I'm sick, but alas we went. Turns out Brad got called to be the PRESIDENT in the young men's, instead of just 1st counselor. What a champ :) I'm very proud of him and the man he is. The bishop said something like "we think hard about this called and choose someone we want the boys to grow up to be like". I thought that was a huge compliment to Brad and agreed with my sentiments exactly. So the rest of the day we're just hangin' out and havin' some good family time. We've been watching family videos from when I was a baby and looking at slides from when my mom was a baby and it sure makes me want one. We were both such beautiful babies, I can't wait to see what ours are gonna look like.

Anyway, here are just some random videos of Brad playin' with our current "baby". Gotta love the Pokester :)

Called out.

2012-01-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

Look at me go, getting this week's post out of the way already. It was actually a relatively busy weekend so that helps, I suppose. Nothing really exciting, just the happenings of the Withers.

On Friday night we did date night at McGrath's fish house...sad to say I was not impressed, but Brad really liked it. So expensive for not very much or very good food! But I guess that's what we get for going with fish, right? We followed that up with a movie night at the Best Cousins' house. My cousin Becky, her husband Blake, and their son Cameron are 3 of our most favorite people. We love spending time with them and appreciate that our friendship is mutual (especially when we feel like so many of our relationships with people are so one sided these days). Watched us some Prince of Egypt. Good show :) Also, Brad has started playing soccer with an indoor league on Friday nights and he is LOVING it. He hasn't played since his mission and I don't know if that even really counts, so we are excited for him to have an outlet to do so. I wish it wasn't Friday nights, but beggers can't be choosers, right? So that was at 11:10 *super late* and they won like 14-3 or something awesome like that.

On Saturday we hung out and did some chores, you know, the usual catch up from the week of no time. I did have to work at 1:00 at the salon which was when I gave my boss my 4 1/2 weeks notice!! I was super nervous about it and didn't know how it would go over, but it ended up ok. It is very bitter sweet and I've really enjoyed the experience I've gained from being an assistant, but it's time for me to grow up and do hair on my own. So all ya'll who need appointments let me know ;) And if you know of any good salons between like Riverton and Lehi, that would be muchly appreciated. Anyway, last night we had Brad's parents over for dinner and game night and it went pretty well, actually. We're turning over a new leaf, I suppose.

Lastly, today at church it was ward conference. Not a big deal, right? Except in our ward! Our stake president has this new policy of "no pre-written programs" to leave space for inspired talks at the end of sacrament meeting...aka calling people out. So since it was ward conference, the stake president himself was there, and you'll never guess the couple that he asked to come up and share some words with the congregation...DING DING DING! Brad and Chelsea Withers. Talk about shocked. So we got the opportunity to stand and bear testimony about the people who have "rescued us" in the church or the people who have helped our testimonies the most. It was actually an experience that I really needed and I was able to talk out loud through some things that deep down I know are true, but have kind of forgotten. Nonetheless, I was scared gutless, which is unusual for me haha. Brad however, was a champ and said some super sweet things about me that I disagree with, but I appreciated all the same. Anyway, it was a really good rest of the meeting and we really enjoy our ward.

Now that you've read what turned out to pretty much be a journal entry (but let's be honest, isn't that all blogs are?) I'm gonna call it a night and hit the sack. Happy week to everyone, and if anyone knows my mom, wish her a Happy Birthday on Wednesday, will ya ;) Hopefully the next entry won't be so wordy!

Surprise Surprise...

2012-01-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

Except not really a surprise...I'm gonna do an overload post and try to catch up for the last 5 months haha. I know, so not like me ;) But, my New Year's resolutions include posting on this blog once a week...yes I'm late getting around to it, but now that I've compiled all the pictures I want to post (56 to be exact), I am ready to be caught up and start from here. Hang in there!

End of Summer

My cute new shoes from my summer shopping spree accompanied by my wearing off pedicure.

October/Halloween

Pumpkin carving with the fam.

Brad didn't want to participate so he took the pictures.

Our 2 pumpkins.

Too bad you can't see the reflection on the wall.

My creepster 11 yr. old sister.

She's pretty much the shiz :)

Our darling niece Kamryn, aka Sally from The Night Before Christmas.

And our little buddy/nephew Maddux, aka a baseball player.

November/Thanksgiving

Doesn't Brad look good with a baby ;)

Miquelle and baby James at our November friends get-together.

Just the Pokester goin' to sleep.

Daddy's favorite little buddy.

Our 45 person Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house.

And it just keeps goin...

December

Christmas Decor

Our Christmas Tree.

Coffee table nativity.

TV stand complete with White Christmas on Blu-Ray :)

End table...one of my favs.

Shelves, Christmas blankie, and our personalized stockings that look like us.

Bookcase.

Window sill. The bottles were my project last year and the tree was crocheted by my grandma when I was a little girl.

Brad's desk/forest.

The trees were my project this year.

All the presents wrapped and under the tree by the 1st week in December :) Yeah, yeah, overachiever, I know.

Christmas Outfits (for cards)

DARLING Santa outfits for Buddy and Pokie.

Thank you $2 purchase.

Some of the pictures for our Christmas card...

Doesn't he look just like a teddy bear?!

Sorry to all who didn't get them, but there just weren't enough to go around :(

If only Brad wouldn't be such a punk...

Gingerbread Decorating

Trip to St. George With Friends

Baby Asher sleepin' in a suitcase.

Hahaha drunk face just like mommy ;)

Isn't he the cutest!

Melanie blowing her own mind by almost getting the Blokus pieces into a perfect square!

Christmas Eve

Ice skating at Gallivan Plaza with my honey.

And my sister.

Gotta love Christmas Eve dinner at home.

Best Christmas Eve Dinner EVER! Finger foods to the rescue!

Christmas Day

This was actually not Christmas, but here's my little buddy.

At "The Week Before Christmas" dinner with my favorite nephew Maddux. I love his kisses!

Maddux and his new BYU blankie from his fav aunt and uncle on Christmas.

The happy couple on their fav holiday.

Bathroom Remodel

Before (look at that nasty floor!)

After (ah, much better with new floor and accessories)

Random

Our new STEAL of a couch...we love it!

My cute, shiny pedicure for my mommy's birthday...yeah makes sense, right?

Remind me never to play Monopoly EVER again...even if it is Brad's "Deluxe Star Wars Edition".

And last, but not least...My carrot can do cooler tricks than your carrot :)

Wish me luck in my New Year's resolution...no really, keep wishing 'cause I'll take all the encouraging I can get!

Busy busy busy!

2011-11-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

Not only are the holidays upon us, but I've also picked up another part time job to go along side with my two other part time jobs. Needless to say, we are swamped! So this blog has kind of been put on the back burner. But just so you don't worry about us, we are doing very well, excited for Thanksgiving this week and decorating the house for Christmas after. Nothing really exciting going on, but we have each other so we're happy people :) Happy Thanksgiving ya'll. Thank you to all of you for being a part of our lives and helping sculpt the people that we are!

Halloween Masks.

2011-10-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Now that our party is finally over I can post the pictures of our masks that I made :) Pictures of the party and all the decor I made to come soon!

My mask before the glitter and feathers.

Both of our masks after the painting and glitter.

The finish products!

More pics and party details coming soon!

Chili's Chilis!

2011-10-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

So back in August we went to Chili's for dinner (one of Brad's favorite places) and they had pictures of chilis that you could color with your donation to St. Jude's. Now honestly, we're both such superb crayon colorers, but who's is better? We're both very competitive so be honest ;)

Well regardless, it was a very entertaining dinner :)

Halloween Projects!

2011-10-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty much the worst at updating. I was talking to a fellow blogger about how great I am at "dumping" per say. I guess I'm busy working on the following projects instead of posting about them. That said, here I go!

Halloween Projects:
I love Halloween so I've been working on new decorations for this year:

Yarn Candy Corns

The supplies you'll need for this project.

If you have any young, teenage sisters, I'd recommend roping them in as your assistant :)

Mark the sections on the cones with a marker so you know where to stop winding the yarn.

We found it easier to start at the top and wind the yarn down the cone.

Make a line of glue vertically while you wind horizontally to secure the yarn onto the Styrofoam cone.

Wah Lah! You have Halloween Candy Corns.

I kinda wish I'd done them all uniform/same pattern, but I am still ok with the variety.

Owl Cupcakes:

I saw these on Pinterest and absolutely loved them! I'm going to make them for our Halloween party coming up :) Just a normal cupcake, frosting, oreos, and reeses pieces.

Just frost the cupcake (make sure to add the ears at the top), cut a double stuf'd oreo in half, use the brown reeses pieces for eyes and place them on the oreos and the oreos on the cupcake, then place an orange or a yellow reeses pieces sideways as the nose. Phew! It's a lot easier than I'm making it sound! haha.

Painted Pumpkins:

K, I kinda wish I had bought the fake pumpkins that were $3 a piece at the craft store, but now I've had my practice on disposable pumpkins.

I just used acrylic paint that I had at home.

I chose silver and black, but you can use any colors! It's up to your imagination, of course ;)

Well, that about wraps it up, for now. I'll try to keep the "dumping" to a minimum, and who knows? Maybe I'll actually get around to another post before it's been a month...we'll see ;) I do have our Halloween costume pictures ready, and some pics of my "shopping spree" I spoiled myself with a couple weeks ago. Until then, Happy Haunting!

Yesterday...Love in the First Degree :)

2011-08-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my "Brag About Brad" blog, but I thought I'd just share some of it with ya'll too. Isn't being in love the best?

Yesterday was absolutely wonderful! It wasn't necessarily anything special, just one of those days that makes you smile.

We started off by getting up early and going up to Centerville so Brad could play in an outdoor racquetball tourny. He loves it and had fun, even though he didn't win a whole lot. We took our new dog Pokie with us and he had a blast as well.

Then we just came home and chilled for a while. I took a nap while Brad played on the internet and watched Lord of the Rings. (Pokie loves to lay on mommy, btw. Haha, he's a hoot!) So when I woke up we just kinda had lunch and sat around watchin' more TV (which Brad changed because I'm not a huge LOTR fan) and holding hands and all that good stuff. It was so nice to just get to be with him.

After chillin' and relaxin' all cool, we got ready to go to a barbecue at 5:00 with some of Brad's ex-co-workers up by Skyline High School. It was pretty fun. There were 8 of us, Brad's brother and sis-in-law included, and it was definitely an..interesting experience haha. I always feel ...different being around people who are drinking and smoking...not my favorite atmosphere, but they were really respectful about it so I appreciated that. We left around 8:30 or so 'cause I just couldn't do the cigarette smoke any more, and even though Brad wanted to stay he was a babe and willingly left with me.

We went home just long enough to grab some supplies and then headed off for our next adventure. We went to the store and bought me some shorts and went to the park and I'm skipping a lot of details because it was a somewhat risque adventure, Love those kind! It was fun to spice things up though. And while we were driving we got to have just really good conversation. We talked about how "sex" is such a taboo subject in the church and how it's almost discouraged for women in the church to feel "sexy". Sometimes that makes it hard to feel up for sex, but it's such a vital part of marriage and etc, etc. Just once again affirming how in line we are in our morals and values and that means so much to me and our marriage.

Then we just came home, cuddled up on the couch, watched Frequency and went to bed. Like I said, nothing super abnormal, but the day just went smoothly. I love that man so much.

Mucho Updates...

2011-07-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened since our (my) last post. So hold on tight kids, this is gonna be an...interesting ride ;)

First of all, we moved! And we couldn't be happier about it. Our previous landlords were pretty dishonest, money hungry, demanding, controlling people so we're excited to have awesome/new ones: Chels's parents! All the cool kids move in with their parents, didn't you know? But in order to move into their basement, we had to finish it! So here's some before and after pictures of our beautiful BRAND NEW apartment :)

North end of family room before.

South end of family room before.

Furnace, water heater, etc and underneath stairs before.

Nasty stairs/brown carpet before/during.

South end of fam. rm. during...it's comin' together!

North end of fam rm. during.

Northeast end/outside door during.

Tile we picked out for the entryway.

Our bedroom before remodel/after primer.

Another view of the bedroom.

And again...

Our bedroom with the first coat of paint.

The carpet's goin' in! North end.

The beautiful new stairs after! The pictures were my mom's masterpiece.

And we're done! Mostly decorated and almost done unpacking. Thank goodness :) North end.

South end of fam. rm. done! In the unpacking process.

My little salon corner before some tweeking. Love it!

Look at that hot male model! This is our family room mostly done. Still need to find my other couch cover :s

Our little kitchen table corner. We can totally still entertain ;)

Brad's "Man Corner"...mostly. Not as much as he'd like, but we're workin' on it.

View of the family room from our bedroom.

Our big comfy bed :) (that needs a bedskirt) and the view of our bedroom from the fam. rm.

Fun, eh? We're pretty excited about it. Hopefully it stays that way.

Next, I've been trying to save money and be a little bit crafty...haha. It's kind of humorous, but at least I'm trying, right? So here are some things I've done/additions I've made to our apartment all on my lonesome. I'm not so great at taking before and after pictures or whatever like professional crafters, but I'll get better haha. Let me know what you think, eh?

Again, I forgot to take a complete before picture, but this is at least before I was completely done spray painting. Our next door neighbors left this on their curb for the dumpster so I asked them if I could have it. Sure glad I did!

I didn't love the burnt orange/brown color so I spray painted it a darker brown to match the rest of the stuff in our apartment. It also used to have ugly like tan/cream itchy cushions on it...not my fav.

So, after paint and new fabric recovering...

We have, in my opinion, a much more attractive chair. And gender neutral...just for "someday's" sake :)

Next projects: I'm super anal about organization and such, and like to write everything down in a specific place. I also like uniformity, but differentiation. So...here's something super easy and cheap you can do with notebooks to make them darling and usable :)

"Client Record Book". A place for me to keep details on different clients and their "hair history", if you will.

Our "Couples Journal". We started this a while ago and I love it. We take turns writing entries in it. It's fun to see our different perspectives on things that happen in our life.

"My Book of Special Thoughts, Vol. II" My first year of college they gave us a notebook and that was my first one/vol. 1. I like this new version better. It's cuter haha.

And lastly, just some other random stuff I've done for our apartment:

I really love this frame, but I'm not a big Times New Roman fan and I love color...

So I tried a design of my own. Not sure how much I love it, but I still think it's more me than it was before.

Haha Oh the curtains. I've spent a lot of time with the sewing machine lately, and it's definitely a work in progress. These are a little small, but they're a good start. We needed something for privacy and to keep the light out, so these'll suffice...for now.

Just another li'l su'um I sewed. A cute table runner to match the pillows on our couch. I like it ... it was easy haha.

Lastly, Brad and I both have new job situations! He makes and packs pills all day at a medical supplement and vitamin company called:

He doesn't love it, but he's a trooper and works hard to support us.

I got a job at a salon called The Strand. I love it! I'm just assisting a stylist for now, but she is wonderful and super knowledgeable and I'm learning a lot!

This isn't an actual picture of the salon, but you get the idea :)

Well, that's all I've got for now folks. Thanks for stoppin' by! Sorry for the info overload. Someday I'll get better at updating more regularly. Have a great day and don't forget to smile!

Firefighting Update.

2011-05-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

For all you avid followers who wanted progress on Brad's "getting a firefighting job" escapades, here you go!
He took the general knowledge test on April 9 and passed with a 92.5%. They took everyone with 90% and above (a total of 215 people). Then on May 10 he had an "oral assessment" with an interviewing board. They had all 215 people come in one at a time and gave them a maximum of 25 minutes or less to answer the same 5 questions, then scored them 1-5 on their answers.
We just received the results from the assessment and Brad's overall score...he got 3.5/5 and the average was 3.28. The test was worth 30% of his ranking and the assessment was worth 70%. His overall ranking was 109/215. They are only hiring 12-16 people, which is more than they originally said, but they are only interviewing 3 people for each position. So at most they will interview the top 48 people. 109 is a bit further down, but as people retire or quit or whathaveyou, they will continue down the list of 215 and interview for positions for the next 2 years (that's how long the list is good for). All in all, there is still a decent chance that Brad could get a job, just not right away/any time soon.
Also, I was set to graduate from school on June 14, but due to a pretty ridiculous ankle sprain/possible tendon tear/hairline fracture (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150205635198961&set=a.19782363960.13544.505228960&type=1&theater), I have missed some hours and it'll be a little later than that. I'm still done in June though and have some salon equipment at my parents' house, so if anyone needs their hairs done, let me know!

Cruisin'!

2011-05-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Look, it only took me two weeks this time! As most of you know, but the select few of you might not, we just got back from a CRUISE to Mexico :) It was a blast! We went with our friends Jared and Brittany Olson and couldn't have asked for better vacation buddies. We sailed out from Long Beach, CA, hit Catalina Island and Ensenada, MX, and had just a great/relaxing week. Definitely recommended! So here are a few photos of our little adventure. Enjoy!

(P.S. I am now done with school for the semester and SO grateful for the break! I also took my practical state board test yesterday and passed so all I have left is a written test and a month of getting my hours in and I'll be a licensed professional!)

Update of the YEAR!...Really.

2011-04-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Friends, family, whoever stumbles upon this somewhat pathetic blog of mine/ours...welcome to the biggest update of the year! Literally...and really almost the only update of the year haha. Mostly this is just a huge overload of pictures and ramblings, but it hopefully sums up a lot of our life over the past lots of months.

Chelsea went back to school in August to finish her cosmetology license. This is one of her great friends, Natalie von Elm, who is one of the biggest reasons she has lasted. Thanks for bein' a babe Nat! We're just gettin' some awesome deep conditioning treatments. Try it! You'll love it :)

Nat and Britni Campbell. Great ladies, great stylists!

Just fyi, Nat loves her mannequin ;)

Just about when school was starting (end of August), we moved into a new basement apartment/house. It's just down the street from where we were, but we had to move out of that basement. We are currently property managing for the owners and are getting a great deal on rent so we're ok with it. We're still in Taylorsville, in my parents' ward, and really like where we're at. This is our cute family room. Man it looks good clean! I should work on that haha.

This is Brad's little nook. No, the baby clothes don't mean anything, we just get weird at stores sometimes. Notice the Kramer poster...good ol' Seinfeld.

This is our bathroom. It has a few updates since this picture, but you get the jist.

And this is our darling bedroom. My brother bought us that awesome big picture frame for Christmas which was the inspiration for the whole wall decor that I love :) And we finally got a king size bed, hallelujah! We slept on a double bed for the first year of our marriage, and then on two twin mattresses on the ground for the next 8 months. So the upgrade to the brand new, completely comfortable and wonderful king size bed has been heavenly. Plus, we finally get to use our darling bed spread!

This is more from school. We had to do updo's for our midterm/finals this semester and this was just me practicing on my mannequin.

And the back...Kinda cool right? They only got better, I promise!

This picture makes me laugh and almost cry at the same time. I worked at Firefighters Credit Union for a whole 7 months, but I absolutely loved it! This is my boss, who was the best boss I've ever had and I love him, Thomas. One day it was raining outside and a coworker of mine, Ben, and I made paper hats and afterwards left them in Thomas' office. The next day he walked out with it on and a tape measurer in his hands and looked like a little kid playing with his toys. It was hilarious!
Unfortunately, I had to finish school by taking classes on Fridays, and they just couldn't work it out for me to continue working there. I miss it a lot and will be forever grateful for the experience.

Or at least they should! After I left the credit union I went to an accounting office. AH! Not recommended haha. I have a lot more respect for accountants. That's torture! My brother-in-law works as an accountant and they needed a receptionist...they let me pick my own hours and were flexible so I jumped on the bandwagon! It was a lot different than I thought it was going to be, a lot harder, but it was a great chance for me to get the classes in that I needed. My last day was Monday, as it was the last day of taxes, so I'm currently unemployed and I won't lie, it feels GREAT! We'll see how I feel when the paychecks stop coming in haha.

Also, as of February 28th, Brad is no longer a substitute teacher or personal trainer, but a full time employee! Yay for consistent paychecks :) He is currently working at "Dr. Gas". Don't judge, we didn't come up with the name haha. It is a welding shop and they make custom exhaust pipes and such. His brother Scott works there and helped him get this job also. Yay for family hook-ups! He's really liking it, and hopefully this keeps up!

Back to Christmas time...I'm trying to get better at being crafty. I feel like I'm creative, but I don't feel like I have time to do anything cutesy. Well at Christmas time, I tried to make time and make our own tree topper and stars. All you need is paper, scissors, and glue!

Wahlah! Cute, right? I love them.

We used the little ones in clusters and put them in jars on sticks. I cut out other Christmas paper and glued it to old Martinelli's bottles to put them in. Haha maybe I'll take a picture next Christmas, hard to explain. But that big one was our tree topper. It was perfect! And since it's paper, the light can shine through it.

Ok, random, yes I know, but here is our hidden "talent", if you will. Brad and I have huge tongues. Haha. His is really fat, and mine is really wide. 'Nough said.

Also random...My mom works at an elementary school and has to do fun little arts and crafts with the kids. I like to visit occasionally for lunch, and this is what I got to do when I was there one day. Her name at school is Mrs. Mac (since kids can't say McArthur) and they were making these mirror images so I colored it for her! Sometimes I really want little kids so I can color all the time.

Haha oh cute Bradley. I love this man. Wondering where the chalk came from? Well one day last fall we had a little kid date. It was so much fun! I have misplaced the rest of the pictures, but it started with cereal & bananas, coloring books & crayons, and cartoon watching. Man Power Rangers was cheesy! Then we went outside and played frisbee, catch, etc. Afterwards, we played with chalk! You can see the patio in the background? Well we covered it with colorful creations and then continued to color each other :) Haha it was hilarious! I think I won that chalk fight ;) Then to top it all off, we went to Chick-Fil-A and got kids meals. Those toys are not what they used to be, but it was delicious :)

On to more recent, the rest of the pictures are from my Dad's surprise 50th birthday party! It was a lot of work and stress, but we pulled it off and he loved it! Here's Brad and his oldest sister Kristina. Thanks everyone for coming!

Katie Wilde and her boy toy Andy. I grew up with Katie and then she moved all the way to Riverton. Good to see her :)

My dad with Bruce and Crissi Maycock, some of our neighbor friends.

Devin Routson! My family absolutely adores this guy haha. Good ol' Bear Lake trips can steal their hearts, just fyi ;)

Some of the gang chattin' away. Jayne came all the way from Idaho with Grandma. What a babe!

From left to right...Grandma, Kathy & Drew Miller, Sue, Uncle Mike, Mom, Perry, and Aunt Anne. Gotta love us crazy Wrights!

Dad and Devin. What studs :)

Isn't it ridiculous how tall and beautiful and grown up my LITTLE sister is getting? And here she is with Uncle Greg..he almost drove all the way to Price to pick up my dad's dad, but we appreciate his thought anyway!

Cute little Gretchen. She belongs to Jayne (my mom's sister) and is such a little stinker...she knows how to pull on your heart strings that's for sure!

Sue and Al's little clan. Evan, Tommy, ...little man who's name I forget, Claire and Grace. Sue is my mom's cousin. They came from Alpine-ish.

A close up of Grandma (mom's mom) Kathy, and Drew. They came from South Weber, which is pretty far too.

More chatting...I promise the party was fun! I just didn't take pictures 'til we were winding down haha.

This picture is kinda monumental. This Doug Hussey with my dad. They were best friends all growing up and haven't seen each other in probably 10 years. My dad was elated to see him. Thanks Doug!

And the cutest couple award goes to... ;) Aren't we darling? Here's a good recent picture of what we look like now. I've chopped my hair and Brad is still as handsome as ever. When he get this firefighting job (cross your fingers!) I'm really gonna miss that beard. So hot!

Brothers :) Well mostly. Brad with my little brother Perry. What good lookin' males!

This is the McArthur clan...kinda. Joel & Kristin Bishop, ...forgot her name little sister, JoAnn & Sam & Nate McArthur. Nate and Kristin are siblings and also cousins to my dad. Notice Nate's nose...attractive, eh?

Dad, mom, and Marilyn & Steve Wilde. They are Katie's parents...used to live down the street...moved to Riverton. But they were awesome enough to come and share my dad's special day as well...and they had just barely returned from a big vaca that day too! What friends :)

And one more picture of little Gretchen for good measure ;)
And thanks to everyone who came that I didn't get pictures of! I would try to list them, but I know I'd forget someone and I don't want to leave anyone out. It was a HUGE success and he loved every minute of it. He ranted about it for days. Perfect reaction, I'd say!

Well folks, that's about all I've got for now. We just gotta get me done with school and things'll be more smooth sailing. And speaking of sailing, 5 days and counting 'til we're on our cruise ship sailin' away in the sun! CAN'T WAIT! So what if my bikini body isn't ready...we need to get away! So until next time, have a great day and don't forget to smile!

Still Coming...

2011-04-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Obviously I didn't get our blog updated over Spring Break...but I do plan to do it soon. School is almost out for the semester and we're going on an AWESOME vaca next week so there'll be even more to splurge on :) Haha later kids!

Coming soon!

2011-03-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

For all you avid readers, or lack thereof, I am officially on Spring Break and near the top of my To-Do list is updating this blog. So within the next couple days is going to be a jam packed post of our life in the past...however many months I decide to dedicate my time to :) Be excited!
Lots of love!

Chelsea's Parents.

2011-01-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted...(yes, that's my opening line for every blog)...and this isn't really an update, but more of a shout out. A shout out to the parents who are more than a girl could ever ask for and deserve to be acknowledged:

I am grateful for a mother and father who love me unconditionally; who taught me right from wrong and then let me make my own decisions, turn into my own person, and still accept, love, and try their best to understand that individual that I have become; who value my opinions and treat me like the adult that I am; who encouraged me to be an adult and form my own opinions; who stood by me and continue to stand be me as much as they might disagree with me.
I am grateful for parents who never have and never will give up on me or their relationship with me (or any of my siblings) for any reason!
TO THE BEST MOM AND DAD IN THE WORLD: THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU! Forever.

Last Day of Work.

2010-12-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a long while since I actually posted something relevant. So, most of you probably don't know that I'm starting a new job on Monday, which makes today my last day at Firefighters Credit Union. I have only worked here for 7 short months, but I have loved it...well as much as someone can love a job anyway. My bosses are the best...really. It was really a hard decision to make to switch jobs because I wasn't actually looking for a new job, but an awesome opportunity fell into my lap. So after much prayer and lots of thought, I put in my 4 weeks notice and that ends today. It's a very bitter sweet feeling, and it's turning out to be a pretty crummy day, in all honesty, but I'm grateful for everything that's going on. We need more money and I need to finish school, but I was able to have a really good job until I found one that would work with me better.
So thank you to all of my coworkers (and a select few of the members) from my current job for the great experience. Also, thank you to the guys at the CPA Office I'm heading to for allowing me to be more flexible and still accomplish my goals. I will be a receptionist there and hopefully I won't get too bored with myself as my only surrounding friend :)
That's really all the news we have...pretty boring. Brad is still substituting and working at Gold's Gym, but trying to find something a little more steady and full time so fingers crossed for him. I'm currently on a break from school so we're actually seeing each other, weird! So we're trying to catch up on our lives, and still celebrate the season, and stay sane...wish us luck and Merry Christmas everyone!

Now I Don't Seem Lame!

2010-11-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

So, now that it's November and Thanksgiving is coming up, I don't seem crazy for posting gratefuls, right? Actually, I am going to start writing grateful posts on my own personal blog because I think it's important to record our blessings and have an attitude of gratitude. I want this to be more of just our life together, but I do want to do one more Grateful Post on here, just for good measure.

I Am Grateful For:

Amazing friends who have been there for me through thick and thin; who accept me for who I am and don't judge stupid decisions I make.

My Savior, Redeemer, Friend, and brother: Jesus Christ. For His atonement and saving ordinance that allows me to make mistakes, repent, and always have someone by my side when I'm trying to improve.

The gospel of Jesus Christ restored and so readily available to me here in the year 2010.

My wonderful, supportive, loving, crazy family who has shaped me into the person I am.

My loving, caring, perfect husband who helps me stay the person I want to be; who loves me unconditionally; who fills our home with the spirit and keeps us on the straight and narrow.

My life. I take it for granted and sometimes curse the situations I'm in, but I am overall truly grateful that I live in the latter days and that I get the chance to prove to Heavenly Father that I deserve to stay with Him, and I get to have some fun in the process.

Everything I have. I am so blessed and couldn't ask for anything better than the things I already have and are surrounded with every day.

Thank you: to everyone I've ever met, everyone I ever will meet, and even some who don't remember we've met...each and every one of you has had some impact on my life and without you I wouldn't be in this position with this life today.

I'm Gettin' Boring.

2010-10-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

So, I feel really repetitive and boring, but I have to remind myself that I have things to be grateful for. Lame, I know, but it's been a rough go the past month or so and this is my way of keepin' my chin up, I suppose. So for all of you "avid readers" (which I'm sure aren't many, if any) sorry this is a little boring and always the same.

Today I'm Grateful For:

Flexible job.

Modern medicine.

Drinkable water so readily available.

New tires just in time for the snow.

Slower days at work.

Overdraft protection.

Good friends...real friends.

Life, that I'm still living mine even though I feel like I don't really have one.

And always, my Savior. Where would I be without Him?

Gratefuls 10.19.10.

2010-10-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since the gratitude...two weeks to be exact...so here's a list to start of the afternoon right!

Today I'm Grateful For:

Silly texts.

Smiles.

Peace and quiet.

New hair.
Talented friends.

Feeling pretty/Compliments.

Changing leaves.

Silk.

Electricity.

Laughing.

That'll do.

Goals and Gratefuls.

2010-10-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else just love General Conference like I (we) do? I always feel so rejuvenated after conference; very set on being a better person; encouraged to do better. This conference came at an especially opportune time for me.

After the passing of dear Sally Vranes I realized a lot about myself: how selfish I am, how negative I can be, how self centered my problems are...mostly not very good things. She lived such a Christ-like life and I have not lived up to that potential. So for the past couple weeks since her funeral I have had a lot of time to reflect on the areas of my life that I struggle in, whether personal or work related, family or friends, pleasure or duty.

Then along comes conference, and what an "energy boost" if you will. All of the things I have been striving to change or figure out lately were explained in a different light. There were at least two talks for every area that I want to change. I'm not saying it will be easy, or even immediate, but I feel such a strong desire to be happy. Kind of silly that I haven't been actively striving for that my whole life, but I've always worried so much about what people think instead of what people feel or what I feel that I've let that simple thing slip away from me. I never really realized that it takes effort to be happy. It takes doing the things we're supposed to and keeping the commandments on a weekly, daily, hourly basis to experience true and lasting happiness. I have always know that deep down, but once again I just heard it a little differently and it finally clicked. It will take a huge effort for me to be positive; to not let outside forces bother me; to give up gossiping; to be happy on a daily basis. However, what's the point of living if it's not going to be a happy life?

I've officially gotten to rambling, but I do just want to acknowledge my sense of renewal so I can be reminded by myself later when I'm feeling less that renewed :) I started writing "Grateful Lists" a while back and have somewhat given that up. I want to get back into the habit of that and I will add one to the bottom of this post. Also, during FHE last night Brad and I discussed things we learned from conference and the things we wanted to take from it the most, so I'm also adding that list so we can remind ourselves of the goals we really do want to keep up on. Here it goes:

Goals (post conference):
Chels: Have personal scripture study more regularly and more thoroughly.
              Be a better wife/work on our marriage more/focus more on Brad's positive attributes and commend him more often.
              Give up negative attitude.
Brad: Have more personal scripture study also.
            Focus on our marriage.
            Spend less time playing Starcraft 1 or 2. (I know, exciting, right!? Love you babe! :] )

Gratefuls:

Changes at work.

How much God is aware of our specific needs.

Help from parents.

General Conference :)

Such ready/available knowledge.

One hour lunches that allow for a nap.

Federal Grant money.

Life!

My New Favorite...

2010-09-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Is it lame to post about another blog on my own blog? Well too bad because I think this is valuable information.

The Dating Divas:

http://thedahlingdatingdivas.blogspot.com/

They have their own description of what they are all about on their website that's better than anything I'll come up with, but here goes nothin':

This website is all about MARRIAGE: How to keep a marriage strong, exciting, fun, filled with love, etc. It has date ideas gallor-cheap and expensive-lengthy and easy, cute/cheesy little pick me ups for your spouse, encouragement on being happy together, everything. I love it. I love that it makes it so easy and convenient to come up with ways to make Brad feel good about himself and me feel good about treating him well. It has only been a couple weeks since I started implementing lessons from this blog into our own marriage, but so far it's helping, in my opinion. I feel a lot more giving and selfless (which isn't saying much, but it's a start, right?), I think about my honey a lot more often, I get excited about their new daily posts, and I really feel like our marriage will benefit from this. Too often we get married and stop courting and I don't like that! So, married friends of mine, let's date our spouses again! Go ahead, try it. You know it's gonna be fun ;)

Be Grateful. Numero Dos.

2010-09-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Today I'm grateful for:

Text venting.

Pencils to keep my hair off my neck so I'm not dying of heat.

Technology.

Hump Day.

Netflix movies waiting at home for me.

Low rent payments.

Tithing.

Education.
My awesome bosses who are really good at their
jobs and make me feel like a valued employee.

There are of course more, but there's today's dose of gratitude :)

Lucky I'm In Love...

2010-09-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

How amazing is it that I'm in love with my best friend? I love being in love!

Just thought I'd give a little shout out to our friend Love who's blessed my life with the most amazing man on the planet. Thanks to him, I am who I am today...and the best part is, he accepts every bit of it! I love you honey! Yay cheesefest :)

Grateful.

2010-09-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

So I've been putting off posting because we have a lot going on and I don't have any pictures uploaded to go with it and I feel like my blogs are so boring without them...but I'm going to post without them anyway.

I just want to give a shout out to things I'm grateful for today...and every day...and maybe I'll write more posts like this from now on...I'm grateful:
For my wonderful/patient/understanding/caring/sweet/loving husband.
For my supportive family.
That I have a job that pays my bills.
For perfect situations that fall in my lap.
For the gospel.
For air conditioning :)

And I think that'll do for today.

Fall Schedule.

2010-07-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the details of Chelsea's upcoming crazy fall schedule...

Monday-Thursday:
School 7:00a.m.-8:00a.m.
Work 9:00a.m.-5:00p.m.
School 6:00p.m.-10:00p.m.

Friday:
Work 9:00a.m.-5:00p.m.
School 7:00p.m.-10:00p.m.

...wish me luck!

(And Brad for having to deal with me during this :s)

I FORGOT!

2010-07-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

So my dear mother-in-law reminded me of something new and super exciting that I definitely forgot to post! WE GOT A NEW CAR!!! We traded our Beetle in for a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, dark blue exterior, dark tan interior, fully loaded, V8 engine purrr....we love it :) Brad definitely loves the lack of girliness in comparison to our old car for sure. I can't believe I forgot to share. So if you want a ride, come over any time! ... well, almost any time ;)

Now That It's Been A Month...

2010-07-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

I'm really good at keeping up on this...and by really good I mean really not. But at the same time, I feel like no one ever reads it anyway because I never write anything interesting, so it doesn't help the motivation factor haha. If you do read it, then great and thank you, but I should keep up just for personal records because my journal is lacking even more than this blog.
Back to business. In the past month, of course a lot has happened, but nothing super intense. I think we finally got rid of the mice (all 4 of them!), but part of me still thinks there are still one or two lurking when I hear little noises in our house. Oh well, the worst of it is behind us. But now instead of mice, we have fruit flies! YUCK! If anyone knows a really good trick that gets rid of them, I'd sure appreciate it. Our fly tape is doing pretty well, but I'd like them to be gone for good, if possible.
BRAD GOT A JOB! I don't know if I've even bragged about this yet, but my hubby is officially a Gold's Gym Personal Trainer. And he's definitely starting to look like one, go honey! He's pretty fond of his new found pecks that "stick out more than his gut does now" so kudos to him. However, since his spouse doesn't get a free membership even though he works there, my gut has not improved super significantly...I did lose 5 lbs and am on the downhill though so, go me? We're both running the Deseret News Pioneer Day 5k this Saturday so that should be interesting. Brad has ran ...run...runned?...I think 2 races before, but this will be my first. Let's pray I don't die, eh? Saturday is also Papa Withers' birthday and we get to go up to Park City and play with him, so we're pretty excited about that.
Other than those few things, nothing is really new. We're just waiting to see if we get to stay in our apartment for a while...both just workin' and tryin' to save up for a house and bigger and better everything, so...wish us luck?

Mouse in Our House...and I'm TOTALLY Not Down With That!

2010-06-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

A very disgusting creature very closely resembling this one is RUNNING AROUND IN OUR APARTMENT!!! Yuck!!! If anyone wants to come get rid of it and any more like it I will pay you $10 (if you can do it before Brad that is). GROOOOOOOOOSS!

Ok, I pride myself in being a pretty tough/tomboyish girl. I'm not afraid of spiders, I dive for frisbees, I scrape up my knees in softball, etc. But when it comes to rodents... SLDKJFHOIUWHT :KJASTH:ALKJETJKWERHTLJHRT!!!! BAH! I am seriously so stinking afraid of rodents: mice, rats, hampsters, etc...mostly the mice and rats, but the other little creatures aren't far off. SO disgusting! Like had the squirmies even looking for this picture. Just thought I would share how much I DO NOT want to go home to this little grosso tonight. Someone save me!

DONE Painting and Memorial Day Weekend.

2010-06-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are done painting! Well done until we know what our more permanent situation is going to be. We are really pleased with the results so we thought we'd share:

This is our front room before we painted.

(Isn't Brad so cute?)

And here is our front room now!

(Gotta love Fresh Prince)

It looks a little different in the different lights, but it's between the two. And we did paint the extra room off to the left the same color. Maybe we'll get pictures up when we're done decorating and such.

As far as this weekend, we had such a good one! We had dinner with our good friends Jeff and Cadence Woodland on Friday night and man we don't hang out with them enough. We just had dinner and watched Ocean's Eleven, but we laughed so hard our tummies hurt and just got to enjoy one anothers' company. Love that!

Then on Saturday we got up and finished painting the rest of our apartment and it's hard work! Then that night we finally got around to writing our talks for Sunday morning, and Brad planned his lesson for Elders' Quorum. What a guy :) So Chels spoke on "Nurturing an Eternal Marriage" (which she definitely needed to hear because she's been very much slacking lately) and Brad spoke on "Priesthood Responsibilities in Zion". They went pretty well except when Chelsea spoke for 30 minutes and called Satan a "Sucker and S.O.L." in her talk...haha entertaining to say the least. Then Sunday evening we spent at Chelsea's parents' house playin' games and eatin' yummy hotdogs and hamburgers. Lots of good family fun.

On Monday we woke up way too early to play Ultimate Frisbee with some random people...(totally not worth it...morning games are hard haha) but it was good exercise so at least that was something. Then we just hung out and relaxed until 2:30 when we went bowling with Brad's sister, Kristina, and her husband, Justin. Also, so much fun and we don't hang out with them often enough. We didn't bowl very well, but that's not what it's all about anyway, right? Then they came over for a minute when we were done to see our cute new place before they had to be at dinner at 5:00. Then we got to chill by ourselves some more 'til we had an awesome "Breakfast Dinner" with Chels's parents...again (because Brad's parents were out of town the whole weekend). Dad made crepes and we had nutella and strawberries and butter and powdered sugar and home made whip cream and blackberries and they were delicious! We also had bacon and eggs and man I'm hungry haha. But it was really good. Then we had lots of fun gettin' to the airport to pick Brad's parents and sister and brother-in-law...and by fun I mean a hard time, but it all worked out and we were able to spend some time with his parents after we picked them up and just chat...runonsentencefulness. Also laughed really hard and spent some good time together. My tummy is definitely firmer after this weekend!

So overall, it was a great weekend and this morning came way too fast! But real life always has to start over, right? Thanks to everyone involved in our weekend, we loved it!

Painting Escapades!

2010-05-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we recently moved into a new apartment in Taylorsville. We love it, especially in comparison to Aggie Village in Logan. However, we did want to do just a little bit of updating on the colors of the apartment...so we did! This weekend we painted our "master bedroom" from the nursery/baby green color it was to the awesome/grown-up brown color that it now is. So much better! So here's a little peek at what we've been up to...as far as this goes anyway...I'll have to catch the rest up later :]

Before:

After:

(Don't mind the chipped dresser...to be painted shortly. And if you know me, you'll understand the baby clothes as well...no, we aren't expecting ;] )

Now we just need to get our king size bed and put our cute duvee cover on it and it'll look even better in there!

COMING SOON!

2010-05-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

So I am a big huge slackerface and haven't posted anything in a long time. However, it is because we have had soooo much going on that I just haven't had time. So...be ready for some major updates on moving/new house, new jobs, upcoming events. Yay!

I Got It I Got It I Got It!

2010-04-26T12:21:00.001-07:00

So just as a follow up from the last post...I GOT THE JOB! Phew! We're super excited and I'm super relieved. Only onward and upward from here, right? Yay!

Done and Moving!

2010-04-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come: Brad is done with school in Logan and we are moving "home"! Home being the Salt Lake valley, and currently/more specifically back to T.Town. AKA Taylorsville :) We can't wait.

Brad has enjoyed Utah State University and done well here, but we are ready to start the next adventures in our life. The plan (cross our fingers) is to finish up work and finals here on the 6th of May and move out the following day: Friday, May 7th. We will be moving into a basement apartment owned by family friends, the Earl's, and located down the street from Chelsea's parents. It's darling and spacious and we're really excited about it.

As far as jobs go, Chelsea has applied at several credit unions in Salt Lake. We're about 80% positive she will be hearing from Fire Fighters' Credit Union either Monday or Tuesday of this week (this is where the finger crossing comes in handy) to tell her she got the job with them: the one she wants the most! Brad will be able to substitute teach throughout Granite District until the end of the school year where jobs permit (again with crossed fingers). He will have taken enough classes in his Exercise Science major to be qualified to test to be a personal trainer and will look for jobs in that area. He is also testing to be a fire fighter at Salt Lake Fire Department on Saturday, May 8th, which is also our anniversary; can you believe it's been a year already!?

So basically, there are TONS of things coming up for us in the next couple of weeks, including our birthdays and birthday parties (which you should definitely attend if you haven't heard about it already) so we're keepin' our hopes up for smooth sailing through all of it. Wish us luck!

Let's Get Ready To..Rrrrracquetball!!

2010-04-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

This week Bradley is in Springfield, Missouri ready to kick a lot of butt at the Annual Racquetball Nationals :) He left last night and returns Sunday afternoon/eveningish. He's been on the USU Racquetball team for two years now and waiting for this week since day one. He would've gone last year, but he was only taking 10 credits and you have to be a full time student in order to compete. So he was pretty excited to get on a plane this morning and head out. He is ranked a very close #3 on the team (having to break a 3 way tie with two other guys to determine the top three) and is confident about his placing. This will put him playing against other guys in the same position. We're very excited for him and hoping for the best for him this week. Pray for him, eh? We'll update you upon his return as to the results!

Free Jewelry Giveaway!!!

2010-04-01T17:46:00.000-07:00

So friends of mine, here's a great deal! My darling cousin makes BEAUTIFUL jewelry and she's doing a free give away. You have to check it out!!! Go to this link and see what the details are :)

http://sassandsavvyjewelry.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway-time.html

Things Chelsea Wants to Do Before She Dies.

2010-03-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

▪ Go to Hawaii.

▪ Have beautiful, healthy babies who grow into beautiful, healthy children.

▪ Celebrate a “Golden Anniversary” with the love of my life.

▪ Read the Old Testament of the Bible.

▪ Give a $50 haircut.

▪ Go skydiving.

▪ Have a child on a mission.

▪ Go to/through the temple with all my kids.

▪ Serve in Young Women’s.

▪ Publish a poem.

▪ Pay off a house.

▪ Paint a mural.

▪ Go sledding off a roof.

▪ Have hair down to the middle of my back.

▪ See a musical on Broadway in New York.

▪ Go to the top of the Empire State building.

▪ See France from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

▪ Hear a gondola singer in Venice.

▪ Walk the ruins of Rome.

▪ Get my parents out of debt.

▪ See all my siblings married in the temple.

▪ Get to stay at home with my kids.

▪ Write a piano piece.

▪ Teach my kids the piano.

▪ Give up the worry of eating.

▪ Serve a mission with my honey.

▪ Have my teeth fixed.

▪ Take a hot air balloon ride.

▪ Meet a prophet.

▪ Visit all 50 states.

▪ Go to every temple in the

U.S.

▪ See at least 5 of my great grandchildren.

▪ Own a really expensive/authentic accessory of some kind.

▪ Pay for a car with cash.

▪ Be debt free.

▪ Never lose my dearest Bradley.

▪ Donate my hair to “Locks of Love”.

▪ Finish the kisses list with Brad.

▪ Knit a whole afghan for all my grandkids.

▪ Learn how to quilt/make a quilt for all my kids’ weddings.

▪ Go on a cruise.

▪ Get my chin lasered.

▪ Run a marathon.

▪ Be on the Price Is Right...or some other gameshow.

Just to name a few :)

Visit to T-Town and Beyond.

2010-02-22T10:17:00.000-08:00

This weekend Brad had a racquetball tournament in Murray Thursday and Friday. This meant I got to take Saturday off and go down on Friday night and play with him after he was done, and other people while we were there.
We got to spend Friday night with our awesome friends, Jake and Allie Townsend. We went to Redbox and got "Love Happens", which I liked and apparently Brad didn't haha. It was way good to see them. She's gettin' so prego and we don't see them often enough anyway.
Then on Saturday Brad let me lug him around all day running my errands, I guess you could say. We spend Saturday morning with Brad's mom and niece, who is DARLING, by the way, and had breakfast and cut Mama's hair.
Then, at 1:00 we went to my parents' house and cut both of my parents' hair and colored my mom's while he just chilled with my family and watched TV and let me do what I needed to. I think he might have even taken a nap, which he always refuses to do, so I'd say it was a pretty successful visit.
Then we went to my friend Carrie's house for dinner and games and had a blast. We took salad and cheese bread, Carrie and her mom made homemade spaghetti sauce, Carrie's sister Cheri brought drinks, and my mom brought her amazing Texas Fudge Cake. It was so yummy! Then everyone just talked for a bit while I did Carrie's daughter's (Jessi) hair for her region dance. Then we played Five Crowns: my dad's favorite new card game. It was way fun. Then everyone else left and Brad played Wii with Megan, Carrie's other daughter, while I got to catch up with Carrie. Man I miss her. After we'd kept them up way too late we went back to Brad's parents' house to sleep and left Sunday morning to come back to Logan, which we didn't actually need to do because our home teachers didn't come like we thought they were going to, but it's ok because Brad had to work anyway. (Wow run-on sentence.)
I'd say it was a pretty good weekend; I enjoyed it at least :) Now it's back to a long work and school week for us...our least favorite things haha. Wish us luck!

2010-02-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well Friends, this is Brad (or Beedeewee, fyi.) I thought that i should finally post something on this cute little blog of ours, since I am listed as an author, after all. Just to let you all know, that my wife likes to talk about things that I do for her, and I just thought that I should throw some input up there too. Pretty much just wanted to say that she is super wonderful, even when she is sick, she is thinking of things that she needs to accomplish. I know, just a short little guy, but I wanted to say that Chels is a winner, and that I love her very much and appreciate her. She may not always think so, and I probably don't tell her enough, but I do. Love you Chels!

From Romance to Cleaning...Best Husband Ever!

2010-01-31T22:23:00.000-08:00

This last Thursday after work, I came home to this:

A perfectly clean house from my stinky cute hubby.

Including the kitchen!

And he did all the dishes that I think were mine to do.

GORGEOUS purple and green flowers and dinner started in the crock-pot.

Plus P.S. I Love You waiting on the TV screen ready to be watched.

How amazing is he? I am the luckiest girl ever and he is the sweetest man. I appreciate him so much and don't know what I would do without him. That was definitely one of the best nights of our marriage :) Thanks honey! I love you.

Then on Friday night Brad and I decided to go to town on our apartment...well I guess I decided and he kinda followed along and helped because he is just that amazing.

Apparently I have a million pairs of shoes. But with our handy dandy new pocket door hanger I was able to get them out of the huge heap at the bottom of my closet and the cloth drawer stacker and out to where I can actually see them and wear them :)

Yes, there are still shoes at the bottom of my closet, but they are organized now. And so are my clothes! All nice and stacked in more logical piles...piles that will make it easier to get dressed in the dark in the morning.

Yes, still more shoes, but organized! And Brad's clothes all nice and neat with our hamper somewhere we can actually reach.

Plus, we rearranged our room and it looks so much bigger now! And Brad can now use the stacker (black in the right back corner) for his shoes and they're all organized now too.

And the end of our not so well made bed...it was like 2 in the morning; there was no real point to remake it.

I love getting things done and feeling better about our apartment; especially because I have a really hard time with it lately. So thanks again to my great husband who spoils me and helps me with everything, almost no questions asked. Now I just gotta work on keeping up on this blog a little better. Yay baby steps!

To Cut, or Not To Cut?

2010-01-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

So...I really like this haircut...and haircolor actually. Should I do it? Yes or no? Lots of votes/opinions appreciated!

Life Comes At You Fast...In a Really Slow Kinda Way.

2010-01-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

Is it crazy to anyone else how busy life can get? How jumbled and confusing? How crazy and exciting? How stressful? Worryful? How quickly days can go by? How slowly hours can drag on? How you got to the place you're at...good or bad? Where you're going to end up in 5 minutes let alone 5 years? These are questions I frequently ask myself. And of course...how did I get lucky enough to marry the man of my dreams? How does my husband put up with me? Why do I, out of all of the women in this world, have the best husband ever? When did I get to calling myself a woman?...etc.
I could go on and on about how old I feel or how fast I feel life is speeding by or how far away real life seems...when in all reality I'm living my "real life" right now. Every day I go to work, every night I get to come home to my husband, every second I take a breath I am writing my story. Do I like my story? Would I change my story? Should I change the ending to my story? So many questions that I wish I had answers to. And yet I'm the only one who can answer my questions. It's all up to me and my decisions. What I do or don't do...
So maybe I should start today in writing the story of my choice. Make it exciting and interesting. Sorrowful, but happy. Action packed with a little bit of relief. But most of all, I want a happy ending. I'll make a happy ending to my crazy, yet boring, but wonderful life :)

Goodbye 2009. Holy cow!

2010-01-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe 2009 is over. So much has happened/changed in our lives and time is zooming by. Some highlights of our 2009:

-Our wedding.
-Our honeymoon/First real vacation together.
-Moved to Logan/Our first apartment.
-Brad started his last year of college.
-Chelsea got her barbering license.
-Got callings in our first married ward
.Brad: 2nd Counselor in Sunday School Presidency.
.Chelsea: Relief Society Substitute Teacher, Assistant Ward Organist.
-Trip to San Francisco.
-Our first everythings really.

So much more that I couldn't name, but overall it's been a great year. We're almost not Newlyweds any more either. Yay :] Thanks to great friends and family for helping in the start of our forever!

2010...Chance to Be Better.

2009-12-28T19:25:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves New Year's Resolutions, right? Well we're gonna make some (even if Brad doesn't really want to :] )

Brad's:
1. Do daily crunches...get a 6 pack by the 4th of July.
2. Get a job/career.
3. Cook real dinner once a week.

Chelsea's:
1. Lose 30 lbs. by April Fool's Day.
2. Go tanning @ least twice a month. $2.50 Tuesdays!
3. Have personal scripture study daily.
4. Have personal prayers morning and night.
5. Grow hair down to my chest by Christmas.
6. Have a better attitude about mil, work, living in Logan, church...LIFE!
7. Have a flat tummy @ 400 crunches a day by the 4th of July.
8. Wash face and brush teeth every night.
9. Go to gym @ least 4 days a week.

Combined:
1. Get into duplex...fingers crossed.
2. Have family scripture study every night.
3. Have family prayer every morning and night.
4. Have FHE every Monday night.
5. Read Ensign every Sunday.
6. Pay off student loans.

That'll do...for now :]

Success!

2009-12-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Eve dinner was definitely a success again. We didn't have sugar cookies this year, but everything else was there and DELICIOUS! Grandpa and Grandma McArthur even showed up and that was an awesome surprise. Thank goodness for Brad getting off work early so we could make it to the wonderful feast. AND Mom surprised us with hot spice punch this year. YUM! Here are just a few pictures of the buffet itself and my personal meal with a little of everything :]

Thanks, fam, for being so wonderful! Happy Holidays everyone!

Christmas Eve Dinner...excited!

2009-12-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

In the McArthur Household (Chelsea's family) we do things a little bit different at Christmas time. Christmas starts around 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and goes all the way 'til whenever we fall asleep Christmas night. We open present Christmas Eve, have Santa Christmas morning, and enjoy each other and our new treasures the rest of the day...lots of rest and relaxation...the perfect way to celebrate Christmas, if I do say so myself.
But one of my very most favorite things about our Christmas compared to the rest of the world's, is Christmas Eve dinner. There's no ham. No turkey...and if there ever is, that's just a side compared to our wonderful/simple...Fingerfood and more!:
-Li'l smokies.
-Meat balls.
-Shrimp and cocktail sauce.
-Buffalo wings.
-Barbeque wings.
-Cheese ball and crackers.
-Meat stick and cheese.
-Cream cheese and jalapeno jelly.
-Chicken cabbage salad.
-Acini/Frog eye salad.
-Jeanitinis.
Just to name a few.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. So mom, thanks for being awesome and coming up with the best tradition ever! Can't wait!

Things We Want.

2009-12-08T22:53:00.000-08:00

This is a list of things we really want, but probably shouldn't/can't have right now. Everyone can dream right?

-The townhouse! MOOOORE reeeeal bad.
-A dog a dog a dog! REEEEAL bad!
-T.V. Big Nice One.
-Piano.
-DROID...for Brad of course.
-Skinny bodies.
-House.
-Painted walls.
-Children!!!
-New Computers.
-Nice Camera.

To be progressively continued...probably a lot :)

New Moon and New News.

2009-11-22T22:48:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to do a weekly update, so if some of them are more lame than others then too bad. I'm pretty sure we're too new or not cool enough for anyone to really be reading this yet anyway, so it doesn't really matter how lame it is.

ANYway. We had a pretty good week. Lots of work and school. We did get to go on two dates though! That's a record. I don't even know if we go on two real dates a month. We went to Chili's and the Michael Jackson movie for FHE on Monday night and it was really good. The movie was actually pretty entertaining. We both love MJ's music so that helped a lot. Then on Saturday morning we drove down to Salt Lake to go see New Moon at The District (in South Jordan) with my/Chelsea's family and the ladies I used to work with at the credit union and their families. Man I miss them a lot and want my job back real bad. But the movie was pretty good with what they had to work with. Neither of us really liked the book New Moon so we didn't have super high expectations, but it was entertaining enough. Then 25 of us went to Red Robin. Holy cow. We tried to call and make reservations but apparently they don't take them, so instead we waited FOREVER to get that much space. But that was pretty good also...and I think I'm just remembering that I left my leftovers in my parents fridge...hmmm. Well, enjoy family!

But that's about it for the week. Today we went to church and I got the privilege of teaching Relief Society. Privilege=weird, I know. But I really do like to teach...every once in a while. It was a great lesson on Pres. Monson's talk "School Thy Feelings, Oh My Brother" and it was one of those "just for me" lessons. It went pretty well and I learned a lot. Then when we got out of church it was snowing A LOT so it was a good thing we'd brought the car for all my props or we'd have been drenched by the time we got home. Then tonight we got to play with awesome people from our ward: The Hoffers and The Whiteleys and it was really fun. We had dessert and played Pit. Just a good little get together.
That's pretty much us lately. Nothing really new or exciting ever happens...just us bein' crazy all the times :) We do get to go to San Francisco this week for Thanksgiving though, so that should be fun...as long as we get to see the city and have some say as for the rest of the weekend. There will be updates on that for sure! So until then...Have a great day and never forget to smile :D

And YOU're The One I'll Scare!

2009-11-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

Halloween: what a joyous occasion? Well it was in our household this year. We had awesome decorations, food, and friends to help us celebrate the night. We had "Ghoul-Aid" (complete with ice hands), deviled egg eyes, caramel apples, sour cream webs in our chip dip, and many more asthetically pleasing appetizers, if I do say so myself :) We also had pretty cool decor including spider webs and mannequin heads (I guess hair school was good for something) and it was a riot. And because we're so awesome we also made all of our friends dress up for our little shin dig. Below are some pictures with proof that I'm not making this all up. Enjoy!

Perry, Justin, Adam, Brad, Chelsea, Mike, Jared, Brittany,

Molly, Marissa, Kim, Andrew, Jake, and Michelle.

(Jared WAS a Greek something...but he took off his costume, and Britt was Girl Version of Beetle Juice. Mike {in back} was his twin brother Steve. Molly and Marissa were a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Jake was the Grim Reeper and Michelle was an Angel.)

Chelsea and Brad as pretty pathetic Zombies.

Kim and Andrew came as Dominoes...How original!

Justin and Perry were "Black Eyed Peas". I'm a genius!

Adam was the infamous Seinfeld. :) Brad was pleased.

We played the classic String Donut Eating Contest...

And as you can see...

It was VERY entertaining :)

Brad was pretty good...

I'm a little retarded haha.

Kim was so graceful that we just looked like fools.

But in the end...

We all basically just got sticky :) Great game! And lots of fun that night.

Thanks to everyone who came!

Six Months. Holy Cow!

2009-11-08T18:35:00.001-08:00

It seems silly, yes, but today is our 6 Month Anniversary and I am pretty excited. How time flies! We went to Cold Stone last night and got icecream to eat while we watched "Miracle". Then this morning cute Braddog made us french toast and eggs-ish. We went to church, exciting I know, and had steaks, corn, and Rhodes rolls when we got home. Now we're just basking in our own amazingness. Best kind of celebrating, my friends.

Basically, I have the best husband ever, no battle, and I can't wait to see what the coming years bring. We're just as cute now as we were when we got married :] A little more chubby, maybe, but still cute.

I love you baby! Forever! (Yes we're always cheesy :] )

Baby Fun...or something like that :)

2009-11-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

So a little while ago we found this...interesting website that will "morph" two peoples' faces together. Of course we had to try it. Since we had our wedding video pictures of the two of us throughout the growing up years we decided to see what our kids might look like, just for kicks. No we aren't pregnant, no we aren't trying, it's just kinda funny. There are a few "He-She"s but it's pretty entertaining...thought I'd share :)

Baby Withers

Slightly Disfigured Baby Withers

Pretty Cute Toddler Withers

Inevitably Buck Toothed Withers

Slightly Gender Mixed Brace-Face Withers

Good Lookin He-She Teenager Withers

Very Gender Confused Adult Withers

Not bad, eh? We just know we're gonna have cute kids, no matter what these pictures look like. Suckas!

Our Life...Currently

2009-11-01T14:22:00.001-08:00

Howdy Partners.

I just thought I'd give a slight update as to what we're up to lately, for all ya'll who don't already know. Brad and I have been married for about 5 1/2 months now. We're living in Logan, UT in married student housing so he can finish his bachelors degree in Exercise Science at Utah State University. He is a senior this year so he should be done in the spring. Yay! (I'm pretty proud of him.) He's taking, I think, 15 credits and works 30 hours a week at Convergys. He really doesn't like it, but stays with it because he's wonderful and we have to pay bills. He's also on the school's racquetball team so he stays pretty busy. He's like number 3 best player on the team so another proud wife moment for me. He's also the second counselor in the Sunday School Presidency in our ward, which we love, up here. Go Brad Dog!

As for myself, I'm just trying to keep us above water, I guess. I'm just working Brad through school, so I'm on a break from school myself. I work about 30 hours a week at Great Clips every day but Thursdays when I work at the Barbershop on campus. That's lots of haircutting for you math geniuses. Other than that I'm pretty boring: cooking, cleaning, laundry, sleeping...that's about my life. I've recently purchased a gym membership to Planet Fitness to go with my friend Shandi, who is wonderful, but getting up at 6:00 a.m. is starting to ware on me so we'll see how long I can go. Why is it that the things that are the best for us are the things we struggle with the most? Interesting. As far as church goes, I'm an Assistant Ward Organist and Relief Society Substitute Teacher...yeah, exciting I know. I'm terrible at the organ so at least I'm kinda entertaining on the Sundays I play.

That's about us. We're just livin' life, bein' newly weds, trying to figure out this new life of ours, and blogspot, so bear with me on my journey :)

I did it.

2009-11-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

I DID IT! That's all. Because of my special friend who loves me so (a.k.a. Cheri-son) I now have a decent looking blog. Neat eh? Now you can all be my friends and read about our boring life...suckas! Here's a more recent picture of us...we're cute.