Can you say "Melnychuk"?

Jazz Fans

2012-02-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

We've recently had the opportunity to go to TWO real life NBA games!! Our good friends had some tickets, but were going to be out of town, so they let gave us the tickets. I called to see if Dima could get off work early, and before I could even finished explaining he was already saying "Take them! Take them!!!" Needless to say we were VERY excited to go! They were great seats too, which added to the excitement of the game - it was so cool to be able to see how tall the players really are, and see the plays and dunks in real life. We watched our Jazz battle it out with the LA Clippers; it came down to literally the last tenth of a second. We ended up losing, but we couldn't have asked for a more exciting game!

Two weeks later Dima scored some tickets from his work, and we were back in the Energy Solutions Arena cheering on the Jazz as they took on the Thunder (currently the best team in NBA). Again, the Jazz played amazing - the whole game was so close, with amazing plays, steals, and dunks from both sides, but again, we ended up losing (this time by about 10 points)... but still so fun to experience the game live, feel the energy in the arena, and of course people watch (there were 3 guys in brightly colored gorilla suits only 1 section over from us that were hilarious). Speaking of entertainment, check out the half time performer from the Thunder game... he makes me proud to be from Las Vegas! :

Nerdy Chic or Soft Contemporary?

2012-02-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

This past week I got new glasses as an early birthday present!! I couldn't decide between two pairs. One was a square black frame the worker described as "nerdy chic" and the other was a deep red with a more roundish frame that the worker described as a "soft contemporary". We put them on hold and I slept on it for a few nights... I went back and forth a million times! But finally it was time to decide (they would no longer hold the frames for me...) so I went right before closing to make the decision (that way I couldn't be there for 3 hours putting on and taking off the two pairs trying to decide). So, are you ready for the unveiling?!

Drum roll please.............................................................................................................................................

Nerdy Chic won out!!!! I liked the simplicity, timelessness, and the fact that it would go with almost any outfit. Also, if I decide to cut bangs again, I think these frames will go better with that look. So what do you think?!

(p.s. no photo of the other pair will be shown in case you think I should have gone with that pair.... It was already too hard to let it go, I don't want to get thinking that I made the wrong decision) :)

Game Day

2012-01-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend when we were going over our upcoming schedules and planning the week ahead, Dima mentioned there was an NBA game Friday between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks that he really wanted to see. That woke up the little hamsters in my brain and got them turning the wheels. They should get a big piece of cheese as a reward for running and spinning those wheels, because this was the result:

I got together some good game day food (pizza, chips and salsa, veggie tray, soda, etc.) for the event, because really what is a game without food!?! (or any event/activity for that matter!) and then texted him while he was at work and asked him what team he wanted to cheer for. He said the Knicks, so I decided I would cheer for the Heat - a little friendly competition always makes the game more interesting :)

So armed with that information, I started scheming, riffling, and crafting. I put together outfits for each of us to wear that were our team colors, and then pinned our team logo on the shirt to get us in the spirit (our printer was out, so I just traced and colored it).

(Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks; Monique vs. Dimitriy; winner, loser!)

Then I covered a can with each of our team's colors/logos on it, and got $3.00 in pennies. Throughout the game we got to put a penny in our jar for each point that our team scored, that kept the team spirit and excitement up, and the trash talking fresh :) Whoever's team ended up winning, would get to take the pennies and buy a treat: something from the dollar store, a candy bar, shake, some kind of fruit, etc. Really, anything that could be found for the price of your "points". During the second half we decided that each dunk should earn our team an extra penny. :)

It turned out to be so fun! (and not just because my team won...) :) Pretty sure if you asked him, that would Dima's best/favorite date. At the end he even suggested that we keep the team logos for "next time". :)

blogs

2012-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

I love reading other people's blogs. If you do to, you have to check out this one: http://topsyhair.blogspot.com/ she's such a great writer! So witty, and she tells these stories that are so outrageous you can't tell if they are real or fake (you guess and then she posts if it was real or not about a week later). Also she has awesome giveaways! So go check it out!

Happy Birthday to this Lovely Lass!

2012-01-11T20:09:00.001-08:00

This is my dear sister Alicia. It is her birthday today (well "today" when I started the post... but now its more like yesterday), and I want to say, happy birthday Lici! and a personal thank you for being born!!! You have been a staple in my life and been such a fabulous sister and a wonderful friend, I love you more than I can say.

Now as a short tribute to you... /us, here are 27 memories and/or things I love about you accompanied by pictures (not all the pictures go with the memory it's attached to):

1) Since the time I was little you always loved me, and saved me from those wicked, soul-sucking naps mom tried so diligently to make me take! All it took was a cry out to you and you'd come running with toys and jump in my crib (probably because I was too much of a porker for you to lift out of the crib) to make me happy! And you've been doing that ever since (metaphorically speaking of course).

We were meant to be

2) Before I could drive you would take me and pick me up from the movies, or my friends houses, because it was more cool to have your sister drop you off than your mom (sorry mom, just the facts of pre-pubescent life :)

3) You spent hours doing my hair and helping me get ready for prom

4) You came and supported me at my games and meets. And when I broke my leg you'd push me up that ramp at school that is steeper than the "slippery slope" of satan! (and you would paint my toe nails all pretty!)

5) When we would go boating we would eat ritz crackers with cheese wiz until it was coming out of our belly buttons and eyeballs! I remember one particular instance when the boat was broken, so we were in the front of the boat making crackers and cheese, and we lined them up all the way around the bough of the boat and then proceeded to eat them all!

6) We would play Phase 10, and make up our own phases to make the game last longer and be more interesting. Or when we were little and we would play "war" but instead of flipping one car at a time we would line them up across the room to make the game go "faster" (as if that's possible!)

7) Remember when we just moved into our new house and we got into a scented marker fight? I think the best part is how it started spontaneously, but then we thought it was so funny, we changed into shorts and tank tops to provide more "playing field" for the game. And then I saw the spots of many colored marker juice on the carpet (who knew the marker said in teeny tiny print "do not shake")... and in that brief pause you fell to your knees, markers in both hands, and scribbled alllllll up and down my legs accompanied by the sound effect "ya-ya-ya-ya-ya" with each swipe of the marker. And I couldn't help but laugh... but then of course, right when we realized the damage we made, Mom walked in on the scene of her two war-painted daughters and caught us red handed. (Oh how I wish we got a picture of that moment)

8) 2 hour phone calls almost every night during my last few semesters of college, figuring out life and myself. Not having to struggle to put together a sentence to express myself, because you were already on the same page and knew what I was trying to say.

9) Running the Ragnar Relay!

10) Running the Halloween Half

11) I love how even when we are far apart we are still in sync - we are at the DMV at the same time, or ate the same thing for dinner, or watched the same movie.

12) I love how I can be crazy and goofy with you, that you aren't afraid to be silly

13) You are an amazing artist! - Drawing, piano, and gingerbread architect

14) I love your adventurous spirit

15) I love your style (which obviously we got from our parents)

16) I remember in high school when we were in our pool on rafts listening to music, and Dad came out with his pants sagged down, and started bouncing to the music saying "woop woop" making gang signs

17) You were gone for THREE AND A HALF YEARS on your mission! (I swear it was that long!) and I missed you so much, but was so happy for you at the same time

18) I love your long beautiful hair!

19) You drove all the way down from Idaho to join me in the joyous festivities of the Scottish Festival!!!

20) How much you LOVE oreos!!!!! I remember when we would visit Nanna and Bubba and you would stack about 10 oreos between your fingers and try to sneak them down to the basement to eat, and when Bubba saw you, you would say "I'm sharing". It reminds me of Gus Gus from Cinderella

View Separately

21) I loved our random dance parties where we would teach each other our newest moves :) and then just dance it out!

22) I remember all our stupid fights when I was little, over barbies and outlets when we were getting ready... haha so funny now though

23) I remember playing barbies for hours and days with you! How we would put them in mom's plants in the living room and say they were in the jungle; or put them on the counter in the bathroom and turn on the sink, and pretend they were at a waterfall, having dances, and church for them... and of course having them bungie jump off the railing of the stairs by their necks (Of course we would leave them tied and hanging there because we were going to continue playing later... but then mom's friends came over and it looked like we were hanging them!) I also remember when you got a new Ken and you put him on the swing in the backyard and he flew so high that when he landed his legs popped off! hahaha

24) Playing baseball in the backyard with a plastic bat and a milk cap as the ball. The first time I hit it I was so excited I threw the bat over the wall.

25) I love listening to you play the piano. When I was younger and couldn't fall asleep for hours you would go play for me so I wouldn't be so bored, and so it would slowly lull me off to sleep

26) There's a vague memory of one of us getting our head stuck in the banister... and I'm thinking it wasn't me....

Speaking of heads... I think mine is bigger than yours in this picture... i think all of me is bigger than you in this picture!

27) I love you and your loyalty! That is one of my favorite things about you, once someone is your friend you put them first and do everything you can to make them happy! You're one of the most giving people I know!

I love you sister!!! Happy Birthday!

New Year Celebrations

2012-01-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I gave Dimitriy tickets for a Heber Train ride on New Years Eve!! (With me of course). We spent our morning basking in the gloriousness of the train yard and winding through the sunny mountains of Provo Canyon seeing wildlife that kept being pointed out to us over the intercom... to your left you will see an eagle flying over the lake!!!! To our right are some cows, and if you look closely you will see some ducks in the reservoir! (ok so I might have made up one or two of those, but it was funny how they were making everyday animals seem like a special treat you could only experience on their train ride.) The cart had two bench seats facing each other with about a foot between them, which made for fun people watching as families would try to squeeze in and situate in a somewhat comfortable, and not too awkwardly positioned arrangement. (Luckily we scored one of the few bench seats that was facing the back of the seat in front of us... that could have gotten awkward quickly and all the amusement we found in watching others jigsaw themselves in would have gone out the window.) We were also one of two couples there without any kids... but did I feel silly? Not at all. I was too excited to care. Speaking of kids... there was a little girl who sat behind us with red/blonde hair in a ponytail on the top of her head that was singing a good portion of the ride, as only little kids can- off pitch, making up her own tune/words... and yet it was endearing and so so cute! (you can kind of see her ponytail behind us)...

Then after a delicious lunch at a train-themed local burger joint in Heber and a lovely (and entirely too long) nap we hung these beauties to usher in the new year:

2011 in Review

2012-01-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

January: Visiting my sister in Idaho for her birthday!!!

February: Midway Ice Castles!!

March: The Grind... Dima's last semester, Monique work at Edgemont and Heritage (picture of my new Heritage badge while at Edgemont.... How do you like that for representation?!)

April: Dima's Graduation!!!!!

May: Vegas Vacation and Our 1 yr Anniversary

June: Chalk Festival

July: Lici's Graduation and Family Time

August: Dima's birthday and Monique got her dream job!

September: Festivals and Dima starts his job (and finished his CPA exams!!)

October: Halloween Festivities

November: Thanksgiving with both of our families! (It was so much fun that I didn't even think about taking any pictures... sorry!)

December: Christmas in Vegas (warm weather and monkey onesie pj's = pure happiness)

May 2012 be even better!!!!

Family Time

2011-07-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

My sister is a college grad!!!! So after a weekend in Idaho to celebrate, they all followed us back to Salt Lake for a week of family fun and together-ness. We went bowling, saw the extended family, played at the park, had a BBQ, took some family pictures, hit up Boondocks, made some crafts, and played with the kiddies! Also, Dima took his second test for the CPA... 1/2 way there!!! Oh ya, and I put in my two weeks notice because I GOT A JOB!!!!!! after more than a year of searching I landed a big time job in my field, and desired area, and its close by!!!! Dreams really do come true, if only we are patient enough to wait for them!

PAPER ANNIVERSARY!

2011-06-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

Dima and I turned ONE on May 22!!

The day started off with a lovely breakfast in bed, flowers and M&Ms from Dima, and a book of coupons from Monique.

To celebrate we had the PAPER OLYMPICS!!!

It comprised of each "team" making their county Flag and presenting it:

Representations of my flag: The owl represents wisdom; the fields represent prosperity and hard work; the stars represent hope through trials (the dark night sky).

Round 2 was a three round drawing contest:

1st- draw a cafe rio salad

2nd- draw a train in 3 minutes

3rd- draw a ninja with your eyes closed

Dima's:

Monique's:

(Yes, artist Ukraine Melnychuk won that round)

Event 3 we had to write each other a poem

Event 4 we cut those poems into a puzzle the other had to put together

Event 5 was a card game tournament of our favorite card game... although we don't know the name of it... we played best of 7 (like the NBA playoffs...) and I won!!!! woo-woo!

Oh ya, and as the "closing ceremonies" we blew out one candle (match actually.. we had no candles) ate a slice of chocolate cake from Market Street Grill (Same kind we had on our wedding) to celebrate our turning one!

And then we watched the Office. How appropriate.

What a wonderful year! Can't wait for our Cotton Anniversary!!!

Happy Mustache Birthday

2011-06-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

My niece Vienna just recently had her birthday. Apparently she thinks mustaches are the funniest things, and will put her hair, a pen, fork, anything under her nose and just laugh. So, for her birthday they had a Mustache party at the park, and all the kids ran around with paper 'staches. We were sad we couldn't go, but we were there in spirit.

HAPPY MUSTACHE BIRTHDAY VIENNA!!

Picture of sweet little V from my sister's blog.

23 Things Update

2011-06-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

1. Move - WE HAVE MOVED!!!! and we LOVE our apt, it has a balcony!! (complete with hammock soon) and it's close by everything.

6. Attend the Temple 2x/mo. - So far going strong. And we've gotten to attend all sorts of new temples now that we are so close to so many!! They are all so beautiful!

11. Cook 5 new recipes- French Onion Soup, and Olyvie so far.

13. Take a vacation - Vegas, and it was LOVELY!

14. Finish the Photo Wall project - finished picking and editing the photos, just need to print and hang!

15. Edit and print our wedding photos - started.... but this one's going to take a while.

21. Continue to learn Russian - slowly, but surely

22. Find 2 new hair-do's - YES!!!! I will try them and post if they turn out...

Up to accomplish this sumer:

2. Hike Mt Timp

4. Make flower hair clips

5. Host a party?

7. Try out Zumba

8. Run a race

9. Meet my new nephew

10. Read 5 books for fun

11. Cook 5 new recipes

20. Have 6 couples over for dinner

23. Make a rice sock?

Мальчики читают

2011-06-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

I am well on my way to becoming a Ukrainian!! This past month I have made Borsh and Olyvia, and I am slowly but surely learning some russian. Currently my favorite phrase to say is :Мальчики читают, which means the boys are reading... but it is SO much better in Russian! It is the most fun combination of letters and sounds, it will wake up your ears and make them want want to do a jig!! Also I work with a Ukrainian woman who was in the SLC olympics... how does that help my transformation? well it doesn't directly but it's just one more connection, so yes, I am practically Ukrainian.

Here are some of the other things I can say in Russian:
pen, child, children, rice, apple, horse (although I don't like to say it because it sounds like a bad word to me!!!); writing, reading, 1,2,3,8,0, red, read, bicycle, car, drive, walk, run, swim, lets go, what do you want, what's this?, slippers, sandals, hello, goodbye, goodnight, i love you, and what are you mumbling under your nose?

Ok, so I'm not THAT close, and when I hear Dima talk to his mom on the phone I realize just how far I still have to go in order to really be able to communicate to anyone, but at least I'm on my way, and hopefully by the time we go to Ukraine I'll be able to say more than "the boys are reading" to his family.

Homeless

2011-06-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

For two weeks in the beginning of May we were between apartments. Things didn't get so bad that we had to stand on a street corner or go without bathing though. Thankfully we had lots of family and friends who were willing to put us up for a few nights here and there. So after a packing up our life into a trailer and a military cleaning to get out of our Provo apartment, Dima and I hit the open road and headed down to Vegas for a few days of blissful vacation after a month and a half of stress and excitement. It was so fun to be back in my old stomping grounds after so long and see how everything had changed, and yet stayed exactly the same. We spent our days sleeping in, going on beautiful hikes, watching movies, visiting friends, shopping, swimming, eating, and seeing some of Vegas' finest entertainment.

We attended the witty Penn & Teller magic show, the unique and hilarious Blue Man Group (my favorite), walked around the new City Center, Caesar's Palace, Town Square Mall, ate at Planet Hollywood, an AMAZING Italian place that I can't pronounce the name of, romped around Mt. Charleston and enjoyed the unique beauty of Red Rock, went to the temple, and just enjoyed being together.

The strip is so much better prettier at night.

We are so strong.

I may or may not be stuck at this point... :)

Haha, I love this picture... I think we are discussing whether to have the nice stranger take the picture vertically or horizontally... little did we know he'd already made the decision for us.

There once was an old woman who lived in a shoe.... / Check out all that bling!!!

Graduation

2011-06-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Dima graduated with his Masters of Accountancy this past April!! I think I was just as excited as he was!!! It will be good to have our evenings together. We had lots of family in town for the occasion which made it that much better!! It was filled with good eating, Carl Bloch museum, the movies, Easter celebrations, and fun family time. Thanks everyone for coming down to celebrate and be with us!!

Congrats Husband! I am so proud of you!!

Recipe One of Five

2011-03-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm getting an early start to my list this year, and last night I tried my first of 5 new recipes. I usually don't branch out much from the traditional chicken or beef-based dinners, so I thought I would try one of my favorite soups while it is still wintery weather: French Onion Soup! Yum! I thought it would be really hard since I always saw it as a gourmet dish you could only get at restaurants, but it turned out to be super easy! I used this recipe as a basic guide, and made a few changes: I only used about 1 onion, and used all broth instead of half water, half broth, substituted apple juice for the wine, and added a hint of Thyme. yummmy! It was a good change from the regular grind, and filled in all the cracks.

picture from here

And, I think I just found recipe 2 and 3! I'll let you know how they turn out...

If you have any favorites recipes you think I should try feel free to leave them in the comments!! Any and all ideas are appreciated!

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer...

2011-03-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm not quite sure how this happened, but the other day I was straightening my bangs and I burned my nose!!!! That's right, not anything normal like my forehead or ear... but my NOSE!! The very tip of it. And if you look closely at the pictures you'll see that now there is a perfect circle of pink on the very tip of it. Luckily its not terribly noticeable as of yet, but sometimes it gets worse as time goes on... Dima says I remind him of Mickey (or rather Mini) Mouse. haha. Oops. Now every time I see it when I'm getting ready the song "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" comes into my head. Hopefully I can still play in all the reindeer games... or become a hero or at least meet Santa or something...

23 Things

2011-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well, my birthday has come and gone, which means it's time for a new list of ambitions! I did pretty well on my last list, especially considering I made it with less than 6 months to accomplish it all. So some items may carry over to this year.

1. Move

2. Hike Mt Timp

3. Attend the Sundance Film Festival

4. Make flower hair clips

5. Host a party

6. Attend the Temple 2x/mo.

7. Try out Zumba

8. Run a race

9. Meet my new nephew

10. Read 5 books for fun

11. Cook 5 new recipes

12. Make a quilt

13. Take a vacation

14. Finish the Photo Wall project

15. Edit and print our wedding photos

16. Attend a Monster Truck Rally

17. Attend an NBA game

18. Go to Zions

19. Secret Service Project

20. Have 6 couples over for dinner

21. Continue to learn Russian

22. Find 2 new hair-do's.

23. Make a rice sock

V-day Shenanigans

2011-02-23T07:48:00.000-08:00

Valentines turned out great! Although we had work and school going on we were still able to get in lots of quality time. We started the morning by eating a delicious German Pancake breakfast together (which hardly ever happens); then after a break from work and school I came home to these beautiful roses on the counter, and my wonderful husband at the talbe!!!! (I normally don't see him until dinner).

Then I gave him his valentine gift: soda (which I never buy, much to his sadness) and a pop-out valentine with a coupon for a back massage.

Then he took 2 hours off of homework to make me my favorite dinner: chicken with mushroom cream sauce and mashed potatoes!! YUM! (sorry no pictures... I ate it too fast.)

Pretty much we are perfect for each other and enjoyed spending some extra time together. Overall it was a lovely lovely day!

Love Shack

2011-02-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

The decorations are up, my outfit has been decided, and Valentines Day is just around the corner!

ICE CASTLES!!!!

2011-02-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we made some home-made pizzas (yum!) then headed up to Midway to see their winter wonderland! The Ice Castles were awesome! I could have stayed there all night! I was mesmerized by how beautiful they were. Not to mention how tall they were! - you could walk through them and under them... and I love that they were lighted up... from the inside!!!! The formations were so intricate yet natural too, it was absolutely gorgeous. This would make an awesome place for a photoshoot.

and I was able to check off another of my 22 things to do while I'm 22... always a plus!

If you're in the area, its definitely worth a trip up... but dress WARM! especially wear warm shoes, and then go get some hot chocolate afterward!

Excitement

2011-01-27T05:10:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but I am really excited for Valentine's day this year. I just LOVE festivities, decorating, and themed events. I have been googling decoration ideas and thinking of all the yummy treats I can make for days. And our apartment is going to look awesome!!!! (I even drew out a diagram of my plan.) Now I just need to decide what outfit to wear....

My Short Return to The Burg

2011-01-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

This week I got to go up to IDAHO!!!! Rexburg specifically, to celebrate my dear sister's day of life!! It was such a fun few days full of fun.

For her birthday, I decorated her apartment while she was at class (with toilet paper, home-made signs, and the chinese lanterns from our wedding.) When she got home we went to devotional at the new auditorium (which is absolutely beautiful!! - it's like a mini conference center.) and had dinner at Wingers. Then some of her good friends met up with us for a game of bowling, and next we were off to Harry Potter!

Throughout the next few days we played racquetball, went to Forever Plaid, had her funfetti birthday cake, and watched movies. I tried to give her a few hours to do her homework by visiting some good friends, and going to one of my old classes.

It was so fun to be back up in Rexburg, and even though it was just for a few days, we fit a lot in there. :) Happy Birthday Lici!!!!! Thanks for having me!

Christmas Decore

2011-01-14T13:18:00.000-08:00

Remember when I said I wanted to decorate like Elf? Well here's how it turned out. Not quite as magnificent as Buddy's work, but then again, he was raised by elves, whereas, I was not. And I only had a few days to do it before we went out of town. But overall it was fun, cheap, and festive.

We hung paper chains, paper snowflakes, put cottonballs on our shelves to look like snow, and put green and red table cloths on our tables.

NYE

2011-01-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

New Years is a funny thing. Every year I get excited for it, remembering how special it was when I was little because our parents would go out and we would get to invite over a friend, watch movies, while eating popcorn and candy, play games, and make our own confetti (by ripping up colored paper) to throw at midnight. Also, as the time drew near, we would get out all the pots and pans and arrange them into our own drum set to announce to all the world that the New Year was here!!!!

Then when I got older, New Years meant dancing!!! one of my favorite things to do, and it was usually followed by a breakfast party at someones house.

The last few years though, New Years has usually been a let down. Its always thick with potential and anticipation, but then falls flat on its face. I usually end up watching a movie and then turning to the person next to me and saying, "happy new years" then go back to the movie. This year we wanted to go dancing, but didn't know where to go, and the few places we found were too expensive to be worth it. So we ended up visiting family and friends in Salt Lake and Bountiful (which was really fun to catch up and play a few games), and then drove home in time to hear our neighbors counting down.

So, my New Years Resolution?? - Make next New Years Eve awesome again! and plan something epic to do to usher in the new year!

(actually, to be more festive throughout all the year too)

2010 Recap

2011-01-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

January:

Started my internship with the TRUTH campaign

February:

Valentines in Vegas; My BIRTHDAY - Red Lobster Dinner; Dimitriy proposed!!!

March:

Wedding planning! and trying to stay focused on school...

April:

Bridal Showers; Went through the temple; Engagement pictures; Graduation!!

May:

I became a Melnychuk!!

June:

Mexico; Open House in Vegas; Dimitriy's internship with Ernst + Young started

July:

Camping; Parades! I got bangs; Wild Thing date!

August:

Dimitriy's internship ended (with a week at Disney World!!); Dimitriy's Birthday!! - celebrated with weekend in Park City; Dimitriy had a reunion show

September:

Dimitriy Started his last year of school!; I got a job at Heritage

October:

Masquerade ball; Pumpkin carving; Halloween Half Marathon

November:

Harry Potter midnight showing; Thanksgiving in Indiana

December:

Festival of Trees; Christmas in Texas

Christmas Festivities

2010-12-29T07:54:00.000-08:00

Other than making gingerbread houses, while we were in Texas we:

1. Grabbed some blankets, music, and laid in the back of my dads truck to watch the total lunar eclipse! We watched for about an hour from midnight to 1:00 am or so just until it was all the way covered. It had really cool coloring, like a deep warm yellow/rustic look, andit looked so round and 3-Dimensional! You could see the spots and everything really well too.

(we about blinded ourselves taking these pictures, so please forgive the weird looks, we were trying to keep our eyes open)

this photo found through google images and located at: allyouwantfree.com

2. BOWLING!!! - Now I'm not a huge fan (I overdosed on bowling in High School - $1 bowling, how could you not go 2-3 times a week? - funny thing? I still bowl around a 60...). But Dimitriy and Alicia LOVE bowling and are always wanting to go, so we did, and it was a lot of fun! This place had everything you could think of: arcade, billiards, bowling, lazer tag, etc. Here are a few shots from the night:

Family :)

3. Delicious food, gingerbread houses, family games, shopping, movies (tangled!! - soooo good) and lots of messing around at home:

My parents got a new TV with 3D capabilities, and it came with these sweet shades :)

These little guys in our hair were part of our plate decorations, our personal servers if you will, then one thing led to another and we ended up with the following:

4. Some of the loot (Dimitriy and I did our Christmas exchange for FHE after we got home so we wouldn't have to take them there just to bring them back home). Here are the gifts we gave each other (pictures of gifts from the family forthcoming)

I gave Dimitriy one of his favorite boardgames that he's been wanting to buy/play for a while now. I personalized the properties to be places that were meaningful to us, and made us each a game piece out of pictures of our faces.

Dimitriy got me the yellow rainboots I've been eyeing and wanting! and also got me the Fray's new CD!! (I love them)!

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!!!

Not the buttons!! Not my gumdrop buttons!

2010-12-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

We went down to Texas to spend some time with my family.

And we made gingerbread houses again this year! They were quite the improvement from our attempts last year. They were all clever and had really fun details:

(haha, I love that my dad had to use two icers at once)

Mom made a hobbit house, complete with a round door and snowman out front:

Dad made what he called "a hobbit hacienda", but I think it was a sniper post, because the "hobbit" on the tower has a gun and a repel line down from the tower.

Alicia made Santa's sleigh, with actual reindeer and santa!!! I was blown away by it!

Dimitriy made a sweet basketball stadium that even had stadium seating and little basketball hoops!

This year I made a train! I have a slight feddish with trains, and I'm not quite sure where it came from... but here it is. Its the love train apparently :) except for the part where the person is tied to the tracks and the culprit is hiding behind a tree. (there's also an igloo and pile of snowballs, and my favorite part: smoke coming out of the smokestack).

Great job everyone! I couldn't get enough of these!!!

(P.S. Sorry these pictures aren't the best, my camera was low on batteries, so I just snapped a few pics and turned it off, hoping what I got was decent)

"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table"

2010-12-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

Time is a funny thing. It's one of the only things that is always constant in this life, and something everyone has equal. Everyone gets 24 hours in a day, and time always moves at the same speed, in the same direction, for everyone. So why does it feel like its a chameleon devil? It always seems to change into what I don't want it to be. One instance it seems like the day just won't end, or that event coming up can't come soon enough; while the next instance I just want to hold onto a moment forever, but it slips through my fingers and goes from the future to the past without it ever really seeming to be the present.

Sometimes time feels so heavy, like I can feel its presence and weight. Yet I've also experienced the lightness and eternity of time.

Sometimes time freaks me out: I remember what it was like to be a little kid, now here I am in my 20's, married, graduated, and awaiting my next adventure, and then my mind flashes to myself as a grandma, then dead, and I think "the end is so near, I'm going to be dead before I know it" and then panic about needing to maximize my time and experience all the things in life I can; then I set goals and become extra productive for a couple days until time changes on me again.

And have you ever noticed that the the more you do the more time you seem to have? Its like I become super motivated and sufficient and can take on the world when I have more to do that can possibly be done! But when I have nothing going on I can't bring myself to do all the things I want to and need to do that I can never get to when I'm busy; I can't bring myself to do hardly anything.

I think it is very fitting that clocks have pendulums... that depicts time perfectly: swinging from one extreme to the other: too fast, too slow; too much time, not enough; burdensome, light; empty, full.

And still it never REALLY changes. It's me that does. and why is that? what makes my perspective and behaviors change so drastically? Why can't time just be what you need it to be?

#21 - check!

2010-12-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

Knocked off another ambition - #21 by going to The Festival of Trees!! this last friday!!!!!!! I've been so so SO excited about this, and it didn't disappoint! We grabbed some of our good friends and our camera and headed up to Sandy for a few hours of holiday spirit! They had it all, they had gingerbread houses, Christmas wreaths, quilts, performances, treats, center pieces, and of course: Christmas Trees!!! These were my very favorite! They had over 800!!!!! It was amazing to see how all-out people went for this! it wasn't just decorating a tree, it was a whole setting to go with the theme! This is christmas elves on 15 cups of coffee type of work!!! We want to do one one year. (we'll probably start with the small table top sized tree, then work our way up to the big 6 ft trees.) I think this is such a great idea, for all involved, esp Primary Children's Hospital. Unfortunately its over this year, but you should put it on your calendars for next year! This is something that everyone should experience at least once.

These are our good friends Audrey and Tim. Audrey's favorite holiday is Halloween and Tim's is the 4th of July, so here they are by their holiday trees.

It was really fun to see different ideas for the top of the tree other than a star or angel.

Of course there were lots of BYU v Utah trees... this wasn't even the best one, and you can see how decked out it is, even with grills, coolers, chairs, blankets etc.

They had some really cool gingerbread houses too. Here are just a couple we really liked:

The mountain one is really cool, and Noah's ark is clever.

Yes, this has a train, Farris Wheel, and merry-go-round... i think there was something else too, but I couldn't get everything in the picture, there was just too much going on to fit.

Overall we got some good ideas for our gingerbread competition coming up, and got in some good holiday cheer.

Scotland

2010-12-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

Next on my virtual travels (it was a long shift... I had time for two today), I am off to Scotland! Why Scotland you ask? Why NOT Scotland! - Beautiful countryside, the best accent I've ever heard, bagpipes, don't have to learn another language to communicate, plaid, soccer... what more can you want?! I blame my uncle for my obsession with all things Scottish. My dear uncle Bob is Scottish, and he's one of the coolest people I know, so if he's that cool, the country that he grew up in MUST be cool too. I'm guessing that was my thought pattern when I was younger?

And guess what? - It is!!!

Pictures:

Music:

Fashion:

I LOVE plaid!!! I'm actually wearing a plaid shirt right now... ha

News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/index.shtml

History:

Emerald-hued hillsides and craggy castles dominate this beautifully filmed travel documentary about the history, culture and scenery of the land of bagpipes and brogues -- the country that makes up the northern third of Great Britain. Armchair travelers will visit ancient sites, explore the countryside and tour the country's urban centers to take in the history and heritage of the Scottish clans.

Available now on NetFlix:

Family: Especially my favorite Scotsman.

Someday I will go there for real... I don't think virtual traveling will cut it for this one. But it does get me more ready and excited!!!!

Give it a minute, its going to SPACE!!!!

2010-12-03T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today on my virtual travels, I went to SPACE by doing the following:

Title of the post is from this. So sad. So funny. So true.

Looking at Hubble photos:

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/

This site is AWESOME!!! I could spend hours here. And each caption explaining what's going on in the picture.

Read up on my Constellations and Myths:Andromeda was the daughter of the King and Queen of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia and Cepheus. As the story goes, Cassiopeia, who was a very vain woman, bragged that she was the most beautiful living thing, more beautiful even than the nymphs of the sea.

But the Queen had forgotten how jealous and spiteful nymphs were. When they heard of the Queen's proclamation, they immediately went to their master, Neptune, lord of the sea, crying out for retribution. Neptune

sent a sea monster to punish the town. The only thing that would save them was for Cassiopeia to sacrifice her daughter Andromeda to the sea monster.

In the end, Cassiopeia relents and chains her daughter to a rock by the sea and leavers her to her fate. This time, though, fate was kind and before the sea monster could devour the girl, Perseus happened along on Pegasus returning from slaying Medusa. Perseus saw Andromeda and instantly fell in love with her. He slew the sea monster and carried Andromeda away to be his wife.

Cassiopeia and Cepheus relent to let Perseus marry their daughter. However, as the wedding began, Phineus entered the proceedings and demanded the right to marry Andromeda.

A battle ensued in which Cepheus and Cassiopeia sided with Phineus. Outnumbered, Perseus considered that he had no choice but to slay his challengers by using the head of the recently slaughtered Medusa. Following their death both Cepheus and Cassiopeia were placed among the stars by Poseidon. Cassiopeia was put upside down for half the year because of her vanity, with her husband beside her

Watched a clip of Rocketman: (watch from about 5:35-6:21)

This movie is hilarious!!!

Then I went to Space (by taking a Photobooth picture)

"I got the whole world, in my hands"

Greetings Earthlings!

Where would you like to see me go next?

Without stepping away from my desk...

2010-12-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

My computer is great. It allows me to go anywhere in the world without leaving my desk. I have access to the interned and therefore news, encyclopedias, movies, documentaries, etc. Lets use the Ocean as an example. I can:

watch documentaries about them:

watch an amazing 3 minute clip here

Look at pictures:

Learn facts about marine life (such as these):

-A group of jelly fish is called a smack

-Penguins "fly" underwater at up to 25 miles per hour.

-Green turtles can migrate more than 1,400 miles to lay their eggs

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/education_marine_life_factsheet.html

And then, I can Virtually go there and swim around with all these little guys I just learned about:

compliments of Photobooth

How awesome is that?! I can turn a day like this and this

into an amazing adventure anywhere in the world!!!! And all this without even getting up from my desk: no money, no packing, no jetlag... just a little imagination :)

Stay tuned for more of my desktime "travels".

Deck the Halls

2010-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

This is the first year that I have my own home to decorate for Christmas, and that the decorations aren't in boxes tucked away ready for my to open and put up. Usually I live in a house or apt with 5 other girls, and I don't decorate my half of the room I share with one of them; I just got home and enjoy the beautiful ambience my mom has created in our home in Vegas. Well, now I am married (still takes me off guard to say that sometimes) and we have our very own space to transform and create holiday joy. Seeing as we are student (well Dimitriy anyway) newlyweds in a small apartment with not much storage... rather than going out and buying a bunch of figurines and fake holly, that I will only use once a year, I am going to decorate our apartment "Elf" style.

Image from: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/holiday/decorating-ideas-from-our-favorite-christmas-movies-554616

I'm envisioning lots of paper chains and snowflakes, cotton snow, green and white chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, silver cds, a snowman made out of white grocery bags, and some hand gathered pine cones. :) Doesn't sound like much, but I think I can do a lot with that. I think I might have to breakdown and go buy a few strands of lights though. I'll post some pictures when I'm done!! Let me know if you want to help me create this "winter wonderland".

Harry Potter

2010-12-02T10:12:00.001-08:00

I too went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter 7.1! I dressed up as Professor Trelawney, and took a cup to read tea leaves and determine people's fortunes...

My favorite part was letting my hair do its thing, and that by NOT doing it, I did it :)

Yep... just as I expected... The GRIM!!!! Watch out dear reader, your life is in grave danger.

I went with my old roommates and neighbors. It was so fun to see them and catch up, and of course see their AMAZING costumes:

Left to right: Sarah as Luna Lovegood, Martha as Narcissa Malfoy, Brenton as Harry Potter, Melodie as Bellatrix Lestrange (complete with the dark mark), Me as Professor Trelawney, and Laura (front) as Rita Skeeter.

Our company also included a Doby, Greyback, Hedwig, a wizard dressing as a muggle, and death eaters. It was so fun to see everyones costumes.

I thought the movie was pretty good, the time flew by! and it sets up the next movie really well. There were a few things that bothered me though. Mostly it was that during really dramatic parts, I felt like everything was just downplayed, they didn't give enough emotion to make it real for me. And getting the elder wand was way too easy. But other than that it was great. I LOVED the scenery and the outfits! The cinematography was amazing!! I loved the filters and colors of the film. And of course, I LOVE Hermione, she's gorgeous, has the best outfits, is levelheaded, and extremely talented. If reincarnation turns out to be real, I hope I come back as her in one of my lives. :)

It's going to be so weird when the last part of this movie is released and the Harry Potter journey is over. This series has been a large part of my life, the first book came out when I was in about third grade and was just getting to the point where I was able to read that book by myself and understand it. Over the years we would go to the HP movies over Thanksgiving holidays as a whole family, and each time a new book would come out I'd re-read the series to that point. Even this past summer I re-read the whole series. I love the imagination, creativity, and morals of this book!!! - I can't wait to read them with my kids and have them discover the world of Harry Potter!

NBA

2010-11-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

Last year was my first real experience with the NBA. Dimitriy and I were dating and slowly I got introduced to the teams, players, and positions. We would be watching a game and I would yell out which player had the ball in order to learn the names. I quickly became a fan of the Boston Celtics for the way they played as a team. Most teams have one hotshot and the rest fall apart without him. But the Celtics all work together and support each other so well there is a fluidity to them you can't get anywhere else. I love the way they know what their teammate is going to do before they even do it; it makes for great plays and a fast-pace game. They also have one of the best transitions I've seen - they are all up attacking the basket, and if the other team gets the ball, the whole teams back on their end of the court defending their basket before that one player can dribble the ball down the court. Not to mention they have my favorite player: Rajon Rondo. Last season was great because my team won the Eastern Conference and went into the most intense, suspenseful and exciting play-offs against the Lakers, and I'm hoping they do it again!

Well this season just started about a month ago, and last night Boston was playing Miami. This was a big game because Miami tried to build a superteam by having "the big three" superstars all play together (LaBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh). - Also, Dimitriy and I are doing "fantasy basketball" where you draft players and make your own team, and you manage it. Then when the players on your team have a game in real life, it follows their stats for the game and then attributes it to your fantasy team. Goal is to get the best stats over any other team (I am currently in first place :) So, Dimitriy has LaBron James on his team, and therefore he was cheering for Miami last night, while I was cheering for Boston (obviously). So naturally I turned it into a rivalry game. I made a small banner to hang over our couch and dressed up in a green shirt, green tube socks, put a clover on my face, and wore a sweatband with the logo upside down (Rondo did this last season, but the NBA said that was disrespectful so he had to wear it right side up or not wear it at all... he doesn't wear one this season.)

It was a fun game, and of course my team played AWESOME!

The game was in Miami and we still won! (Dima's sad face b/c they lost)

WOO Go Celtics!!!

Here are some of our favorite NBA commercials:

Please Help.

2010-11-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

For years now I have wanted some rain boots!!! But I couldn't decide on a style, or they didn't have my size, or I couldn't justify buying them, and on and on. But I think they are so very practical! Not only for rainy days but I imagine they are also great for snow, considering it is also wet and gets slushy and dirty. So, the real dilemma is, should I go with the classic yellow we all think of when someone mentions rainboots? Not to mention it is my favorite color and adds some brightness to dreary winter days? OR, should I get black? Something more subtle that goes with just about everything? I could use some black winter shoes, all I have are brown one. And, if I do get black, should I get plain black or one of these fun ones with a pattern? I just can't decide, I love them all, and they all have their pros. Please help and put your vote in the comments.

Oh ya, and of course these babies are all from Target. Pop on over there if you would like to get some for yourself, and then call me and we can go puddle stomping :)

Photobooth + cool things to show + bored at work = the following:

2010-11-08T12:08:00.001-08:00

About a month and a half ago I got another job on the weekends at Heritage!! When I was hired their badge machine was broken, but it was parents weekend so they needed me to have something so everyone knew I was a staff. So this is what they made me: (sorry, I had to use the mirror setting in photobooth so the badge wouldn't be backwards...)

But one of the girls thought it was too boring, so she made me this: and another girl added my picture.

I am happy to report though, that last week I got a new, official badge!! and am now a legit employee!! I can get into the gate without explaining to the front office, "Hi, I'm supposed to be here... will you let me in? I my shift starts in 2 minutes" and I no longer have to fill out time sheets, get them approved and entered in, I can now just swipe my badge and listen to the little "ding" that tells my I'm all clocked in and ready to go! And I can use it as a "badge" if I am ever in a game of cops and robbers and get assigned to be a cop. just saying.

So, last night at work we did a craft with the girls and made flower clips for our hair. They were super inexpensive, easy, and fun to make. The girls made black and purple ones, others had teal, silver, and black... and here's mine.

(just be glad this is the only weird picture I posted... I took about 10)

Biker Man to the Rescue

2010-11-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my sister asked me to write down a funny story we've had during a family vacation. For one of her classes she had to take this piece and write about the same story but from a different point of view and with a different tone/voice. (Sounds pretty cool actually). This is the story that came to both our minds, and I thought I should share it, or at least post it so its recorded somewhere. Here goes:

It started out like any other family vacation, loading up the car with plenty of snacks, sleepy kids, and the much debated-over sand toys that my dad felt we teenage kids were too old for. Once we got to the lake though, everything melted away, arguments were set aside, stresses forgotten, and we were all excited with the promise of a day full of skiing, tubing, and knee boarding. Well, that "promise" was short lived. We got out of the docking area and started to look for an area to ski when our boat decided it wanted to go no further. Who was out on the lake at this gastly hour of day to save us? Yep, no one. Finally a boat comes by and my dad is able to hail a ride back to the marina to buy a new battery, and when he came back the next few minutes went like this: dad instals the new battery and decides to go for a ski ride to test it out; after his ride we turn the boat off to let him back in; the boat doesn't want to play anymore. Yep - deja vu. I think our boat was having "its time of the month" that weekend, it was showing all the classic signs: temperamental attitude, desire to sleep, mood swings. Yes, this was a bad day for Desert Liz, our boat. So naturally, knowing it was going to be a while, we kids break out the snacks and begin lining up Ritz crackers all the edge of the bough of the boat and sprayed them with squirty cheese, until there was an edible boarder around our boat. We then proceeded to eat them all, and go swimming. We had been in these situations before, enough to know how to still have a good time while we were waiting for another living being to enter close enough to our vicinity for us to flag them down. Problem was, when we'd call and wave for help, and the other boats would think we were just saying hi, so they'd wave and go speeding by. Finally we were able to flag down a sea-doo rider and asked him to go to the boat that had just passed us and ask if they would give us a tow into the dock. Let me pause here and paint you a little picture. This wasn't your average sea-doo rider. This was a portly, Harley Davidson of the sea, Santa Clause type sea doo rider; complete with bandana, stoggie, and biker gang. Somewhat like this:

He calmly takes out his cigar, surveys our boat and reply's "This could probably tow you." My not-so-slightly caught off guard father tried to persuade him otherwise, but Harley Santa was already tying us up together, and the adventure was underway. What a sight to behold. Here's "Harley D." puffin on his cigar, just hanging out while his buddies circle our boat like a group of vultures, while the rooster tail of water squirting out of his sea doo lands right in the middle of our boat full of high-pitched girly screams and giggles while we run around mopping up water with beach towels and bailing water with the sand toys that won the argument that morning,trying to keep the water out. Needless to say, sand toys were always brought along on trips from then on.

Commercials

2010-11-04T16:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some of mine and Dimitriy's favorite commercials:

Favorite part: ALL OF IT. But especially ... ya, no. Just the whole thing.

Favorite line: "Freaky like my lady pyramid!!"

Favorite line: "We're just enjoying the flavors of a fallen friend"

Favorite part: 2:05

Favorite line: "I'm on a horse"

Favorite part: at 11 seconds, watch the baby's cheeks :)

This will be stuck in your head for weeks. Favorite line: "We never give up"

haha, i think this is so clever. favorite part: about 26 seconds.. when he's dancing in the center of his team. haha

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are a start. Feel free to share yours in the comments!!!

Gobble Gobble

2010-11-02T11:51:00.001-07:00

I just love FHE, its a time when we know we get to spend some time together and just relax, do something creative and have a good conversations (usually sparked by our spiritual thought). For this FHE we decided to get ready for the next holiday by making hand turkey door decorations!! It turned out to be really fun, and got me looking forward to thanksgiving already!!

I think my turkey definitely won this one, even if he is missing his feet.. :)

Check!!!

2010-11-02T11:26:00.001-07:00

Remember my list? Well I am happy to report that I can officially scratch off number 2!!! This past weekend I ran the Halloween Half with my sister Alicia who came all the way down from Idaho to run it with me. We had to be at the University Mall before 7 am to catch a bus up past Sundance, and then started the race around 9:00am. There were some awesome costumes!!! One guy was Jack the Skeleton from Nightmare Before Christmas - he had a stripped suit and a huge ball over his head to be the skull! Another guy was the Grim Reaper complete with a full face mask, robes, and a plastic machete. I don't know how they ran in those things... a) HOT b) hard to breathe!! My sister and I were hippies. (I think I am part hippie, you know like instead of being 1/2 Native American, or 1/4 Japanese, or part black... I think I am 1/4 -1/2 hippie. I LOVE tie dye, flowers, peace signs, nature, and I am pretty chill. However, I am not so much into the drugs or "free love", thus only being a 1/4- 1/2.) ANYWAY, the run was awesome!!! I loved the energy at the race, and it really didn't feel that long. I am definitely going to do another one next summer, so if you know of a good race or if you would like to run one or train with me, let me know!!!

haha, when I was drawing the peace sign on Alicia's cheek she started laughing, and the pen slipped... but I think it turned out pretty well all things considered!

When we were waiting in line for the bus I saw my friend Laura that I grew up with and ran a year of cross country with.

I also saw my old roommate and good friend Kendis, or Ninja Kendis :)

We also saw Stephanie and her sisters, and were able to start the race with them, unfortunately, I had already packed my camera away in the truck so I didn't get a picture with her.. but she was a cheetah, and I think the costume worked for her, because she ran great and finished way before we did!! :)

But hey, we did it! and if felt GOOD!!!

Nerd Squad

2010-11-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Dimitriy and I were nerds for halloween! and I LOVE how our costumes turned out!!! My favorite part was when people would ask "Where did you get all your nerd stuff?!" haha, are you kidding? this is just stuff we have in our closets!! :)

We started out the night with the ward party where we won one of the prizes for best costume! and had some chili and visited with friends.

Then we ran over to our friends Kiana and Mickey's party where we played some fun games, and I got to be wrapped up as a mummy.

The following night was a party at Audrey and Tims with lots of good food and AMAZING decorations!!! (I wanted to take pictures of the decore, but there were too many people there, I couldn't get a good shot).

Thanks everyone for making this such a fun Halloween!!!

Surprises in my mail box

2010-10-29T15:16:00.001-07:00

What could possibly make this weekend better?!

Surprise mail!!!! I got our new UTAH title for Old Blue and I got the sunglasses today for The Sunglasses Game!!!! Can't wait to take some awesome pictures in these babies!!!

Pumpkins and Masquerade

2010-10-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

We started our Halloween Festivities off by carving pumpkins with our good friends Cameron and Stephanie last weekend. Cameron and Stephanie carved a treble clef, and it turned out amazing!!!!

Dimitriy carved Jack from A Nightmare Before Christmas, and it looks like the real thing. What's more? THIS WAS HIS FIRST TIME!!!!!

Me? I made a duck. No, I am not artistic. I think it took me longer to cut the hole in the top than it did to carve the little duckie haha. But in all fairness, I am pretty new to this too, and I did waves on the sides... :)

We had lots of fun, and I think we are going to make this a tradition and have a contest every year. I already know what I am doing next time. And its going to be good! (I have to make up for this years!:)

Our Festivities continued last night with a MASQUERADE!!!

I was so stinkin excited!!! All day I was so hyper and counting down the time until we could go. My dear friend Brenna heard I was going and dropped over her beautiful mask for me to wear that night! Thanks again, it was perfect!!! So naturally I took this picture in it and emailed it to Dimitriy to get him excited for the event.

hahahaha, I can't stop laughing everytime I look at this picture. It just scared Dimitriy. :)

The party was amazing!!! It was so festive and classy! They had spray painted a bunch of pumpkins gold and had them on tables covered in black lace with gold sparkles and black candle holders. They had black chinese lanterns of all different sizes and shapes hanging in clusters from the ceiling and 2 food tables along the walls. Then over the dance floor they had white lanterns and big bulbed strings of lights.

They had a live DJ and photographers there taking pictures of the event (plus a little set where you could take couples pictures). Of course "Low" came on, and all we could do was think of this video, and dance it out like that little boy! It was so fun, and nothing like I've ever been to before, I'm so glad we ended up going and dancing the night away!!! (I need to do this more.. I'm forgetting all my moves!! So if anyone ever feels like going dancing, let us know!!)

Left: Jordan, Tanner, and Taylor. Right: Kendis and I

Snap Shots

2010-10-29T11:25:00.001-07:00

When I was uploading pictures from the masquerade last night, I realized there were pictures from a long time ago that I never uploaded nor posted about. For example: this is my hott husband on his first day of school, with the basketball we just bought with some left over Target (stop at 5:10) credit.

Next, these are our good friends Cameron and Stephanie. We went to the Hispanic festival with them one Friday not really knowing what it was... haha, it took me about 1/2 the time to figure out why every booth was selling different kinds of mexican, peruvian, etc. food and why there were so many hispanics there... I just thought they liked festivals :) It wasn't until we watched the live music (also hispanic w/ hispanic promo adds playing between bands) that I realized. haha.

Other good news: WE SOLD DIMITRIY'S CAR!!!!! We've been meaning to since school started, we really only need one car, and so we didn't even register his, and it was just taking up our parking space. Dimitriy definitely got some good use out of that thing (like taking me out on lots of dates :), and we will miss it, but at least we still have Old Blue.

I finally have most of our apartment decorated!! Still have to finish decorating the bedroom, but the kitchen, bathroom and living room are pretty much all done!!! It took me a long time to decide what I wanted and what our style was going to be, but I'm glad I didn't just rush to get it done, because I genuinely like how it turned out. Especially the curtains, that was the hardest thing to decide on. I ended up getting this fabric shower curtain and cutting it in half, sewing in a back liner, and sewing the opening for the curtain rod. Easy enough, but with my limited sewing skills I was so happy with how they turned out!!!

Next we have our Columbus Day festivities!!!!!! We had a few couples over for FHE to celebrate Columbus Day by having a lesson on 1 Ne 13 then built boats out of stuff we had around the house, then tested them out in our kitchen sink. They all worked!!! :) Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of us with our ships.... sorry. Thanks guys for coming over and celebrating with us!!

The Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria!!!!

Carol and Aaron's boat, complete with Christopher Columbus himself on the mast, and Captain Jack Sparrow at the bough!

Kenneth and Lindsay's boat, definitely the most patriotic of the three.

Dimitriy and Monique's boat. It looks, simple, but this baby could float for days! - years probably! and we could go anywhere, w/ our lookout and captain steerer man... :)

And that is the end of the forgotten pictures (I need to be better about taking more). But stay tuned for more adventures, they are only starting.

Happy Black Nails October!

2010-10-28T09:59:00.001-07:00

When else can you paint your nails black and not get looked at weird? Celebrate the last few days of Black Nails October by coming by my apt. and getting a fresh coat!

Phantom

2010-10-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween weekend is FINALLY here!!! I have been craving treats all week long, but figured it was stupid to buy any since in a few short days there would be a seemingly endless supply in every direction. This weekend also means that my sister is coming in town!!!!! Oh I can't wait to see her! - we are going to run the Halloween Half on Saturday, the first 1/2 marathon for both of us. I'm glad she'll be doing it with me, because training didn't go quite as planned. :) Halloween also means I get to dress up!!! - which I LOVE to do. I am going to be a nerd, and I have my costume all laid out in my bedroom, just waiting for its moment of glory! To start off the festivities though, I think we are going to go to a masquerade tonight. I have never been to one, but every time it shows on in the movies it always looks so fun and classy!! (Ever After, Phantom of the Opera, Enchanted, etc.) I only decided last night/this morning that we would go. So now I need to make a mask (luck I just happen to have feathers and paint in my craft bin.) and figure out what to wear. The only formal dress I have out here is my wedding dress.... hmmm. Oh, or there's the brides maid dress from our wedding that I stole from my sister :) but its short... is that legal for a masquerade?? (cast your vote in the comments.) Also, we would love to have anyone join us. Its at 8 off state street just past Orem. And if you need masks you can come craft your with me today! (or if you're not going and still want to come craft with me.... that would be acceptable too.)

Here are some pictures of the dresses, and just some that are fun :)

(photo courtesy of New Start Photography)

(photo courtesy of Zoe Crook)

Cleaning Day

2010-10-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested in starting a cleaning group? - I come over and help you clean your apt (not just pick up, but vacuum, scrub, etc) and then you help me do mine?

I am hoping this will do several things:

1. Make me actually do it (like I should be doing now... but instead I am blogging and dinking around on the internet searching things like "cleaning fairy").

2. Make it more enjoyable.

3. Make it go lots faster.

4. Let us get to spend more time together.

I have designated Wednesdays as my cleaning/laundry day (they alternate weeks), however, I am open to moving this day around to whatever is more suitable to your schedule. I am now taking applications, please leave yours in the comments. :)

Growth

2010-10-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

I woke up yesterday and found a HUGE bump smack dab in the middle of my forehead!!! Naturally I ran through all the possibilities of what it could be. Here are the most reasonable and probable:

- I am growing another head.

- someone put a tracker/gps into me while I was sleeping (I may or may not be a highly skilled and highly intelligent member of the CIA, and naturally pose a threat to other government agencies, so they will want to know where I am and what I am doing at all times... just sayin)

- I hit my head on something; both hard enough to blackout and forget what happened and to get a huge goose egg.

-maybe it IS a goose egg...

- I am transforming into a dinosaur, or a unicorn, or some other creature with a horn on its forehead

- Someone made a voodoo doll of me and put a little too much stuffing in the forehead.

Yes, I think it very well could be any of these. Then again it might only be a bug bite or a pimple that hasn't surfaced yet. Well at least it decided to happen around halloween - no one will notice a not so small bump with all the other freakish stuff running around.

Google, you don't KNOW me!!

2010-10-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

This is a funny game. All you need is a computer, the internet and your name (or the name of a friend)! I will put a true or false after each statement to see how well google knows me :) and to give you a little more insight into yours truly! :)

1. Type in "[your name] needs" in Google search: Monique needs to shave her legs (haha, true)

2. Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search: Monique looks like fun. (also true :)

3. Type in "[your name] likes" in Google search: Monique likes to wear high heels all of the time (false... I wouldn't say all the time.. just every now and again for fun and to remind myself why I don't wear them all the time)

4. Type in "[your name] says" in Google search: Monique says winning an Oscar won't change her life (true)

5. Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search: Monique wants Sandra to call her (false. I don't want a stranger to call me)

6. Type in "[your name] does" in Google search: Monique does 3 backflips on trampoline bungee jumping (false, I have never done this, but if/when I do, it could be true)

7. Type in "[your name] hates" Google search: Monique hates skinny people (false)

8. Type in "[your name] goes" Google search: Monique goes out without makeup (true, but I try not to make it too much of a habit :)

9. Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search: Monique loves being a mama (false, I am not a mama...not yet anyway, but I'm sure I will when I am)

AND THE TOTAL IS!!!

TRUE- 4

FALSE-5

Result: GOOGLE, YOU DON'T KNOW ME!!

Last Lecture

2010-09-21T21:36:00.001-07:00

I just finished reading the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (again) and liked it even better this time!!! I love his insights on what is important in life and how to make it the most enjoyable and successful you can. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

Criticism is good because "when you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you. ... Your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better." (p.37)

"Luck is indeed where preparation meets opportunity" (p 119)

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer." (p 149)

After reading this book it got me thinking about my views on life, how I am unique, what experiences and people have gotten me to where I am now, and what advice I would give to others. Here's a short list of things I came up with:

- I realized that what makes me unique is my ability to learn from other people's experiences. This is especially true of my sisters, I have learned so much about life and what I want and how to act just from watching them.

This also applies to making things, if I see an example of a craft or dinner idea, or outfit, etc. I tweak it to fit my style, personality, etc. but seeing what others have done always makes me more creative and gives me new ideas

-I have learned that complaining gets you no where, and it just annoys the people around you, the more you complain the less sympathy people have for you. Complaining makes it hard to have fun b/c all your attention is on the negative. Things go wrong all the time, rather than complaining, just change plans, or try to make it an adventure.

This has come in handy on almost all our family trips. Somethings always seems to go wrong, but it ends up making some of the most unforgettable memories. (Like when our boat broke down, and we got towed in by a sea-doo biker smoking a cigar while the water from his sea-doo landed arched in the air and landed right in our boat, and his buddies circled us on their sea-doos like vultures.)

-Some of the strongest relationships I have are with those I have had to go through really hard things with. There's just something about struggling, sweating, and pushing through hard things with others that makes a strong and lasting bond.

I realized this with my senior cross country team. None of us were anything a like, but by the end of the season we were the best of friends because we had been through so much together, knew we could count on each other and that we understood each other. It is also a time when I got to see the integrity and work ethic of others which reveals a lot about all other aspects of the person.

-Realizations I have come to: 1- If I don't like someone, its because I don't know them well enough. 2-The more I put something off the less likely it is to happen (for better or worse) 3-If you want to know who you are you first have to know who you want to be.

Other points to ponder:

What were God's last words were to us before he sent us here to earth.

What would you say to your children/family/friends if you were going to die?

Read Lehi's last lecture to his children.

Below Freezing

2010-09-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today there was no hot water when I was taking a shower. I was so cold I was completely white (well whiter than normal) as in if I didn't have my contacts in I wouldn't have been able to tell what was my foot and what was the tub! - all the blood had left my appendages to keep my heart, and other organs warm and functioning long enough to get me through washing my hair. And so of course I stood at the very end of the tub trying to avoid the stream of ice falling on me and only dashing in for a quick rinse after shampoo, conditioner and soap. And that's when it hit me:

I have the solution to the problem of the world's depleting source of fresh water! Ready?! Get rid of water heaters! (or as most people call them "hot water heaters" but really why would you want to heat water that is already hot?) Seriously though people- take this proposal to your senators!- because it would totally solve the problem! People would only take 3-4 minute showers, and even then probably only every other day because it is just too miserable and painful to be in there any longer when its warmer standing on the cold bathroom tile than being in the shower. So there you have it, it really is that simple.

And while we're at it, I bet we could curb the obesity epidemic as well, because really the only time a cold shower feels good is after a nice sweaty workout.

If I had a dreamcatcher, I would NOT want to catch this dream!

2010-09-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

What are dreams? and what determines what they will be about!? And what the heck makes us dream of these bizarre things!? -- Those are the questions that have been going through my mind ever since I woke up this morning after this dream:

I was single again (that's not the creepiest part) and was living in an old house with 5 or 6 other girls. My roommate was my sister Alicia (probably the best part of the dream) and we had the room in the attic and it was a bluish grey, and we had a wood dresser in front of a white window with a big tree outside. I was still sleeping and Alicia got up to get ready for the day. We had the window open, but then it started to lightly rain, so Alicia closed it when she got up. I continued to sleep, but soon it got really chilly, and i felt little tickling on me, like a small fly, so I wiggled it off and snuggled deeper into the covers- but the fly, or soon flies, kept landing on me. I was so confused how they got in there because the window was now closed. I was getting grossed out with all the flies, but so tired I wanted to keep sleeping so I tried to just ignore it. Finally I can't stand it anymore, and I open my eyes and off to the right of the window were a BAGILLION flies!!!! but they were miniscule little baby flies, more like gnats than anything, but they were all clumped together, like bees when they are in a hive, crawling all over each other. EW!!! Needless to say I freaked!!! I and I panicked wondering how they got in there! then I go over and look at the window that extends halfway behind the dresser. And thats when I see the problem- there must have been a leak in the window and it had rotted away the wall below the window and even the floor beneath it to the ceiling of the room below!!! (which was the kitchen - why that was an important detail in my dream I do not know). It didn't go through the ceiling, but just the floor and rafters below. So that's where the cold breeze and all those nasty little buggies were coming from! So there I was in my nightgown in the cold breeze with this sickening buzzing right to the left of me, looking at this rotting wood that created a gaping hole in our room!!!!! It was so scary! Next thing I remember (I must have called for a roommate or else someone just came in to talk) I'm back in bed curled up tight hiding in my blanket, peeking out as one of the girls, I actually think it was Alicia - is taking a shoe and smashing the little intruders! there are so many of them that they just fall in sheets bigger than the shoe when she smashes it! and she does that about 3 or 4 times and nearly 3/4 of the nasty pile of gnats are not dead in a heap on the floor right by our bed! As gross as that image was, at that point I was perfectly at rest because I knew they were dead and now was focusing on calling our landlord to fix the rotting hole!!!!

It was SO vivid, I even drew a picture for your viewing pleasure (click on it to make it larger):

Then I come out of unconsciousness into semi-consciousness and realize it was a dream!!!! I could feel my heart pounding and the adrenaline start to leave my bloodstream. But then in I continue to dream that I am running around telling all these people about this dream because it was so gross and vivid!! And it's bizarre because I can hardly ever remember my dreams, especially in so much detail, but this one was so real I could actually feel my skin crawling. And then I wake up for real and realize that I was so concerned about this dream that I dreamed I told everyone!! I'm sure if someone was watching me sleep during that dream I really would have been twitching off the flies, curling up tighter in my bed, and thrashing around. Needless to say, this is one of the mornings I actually didn't mind waking up and getting out of bed!

So I guess what I really want to say, is thanks Lici, for killing the nasty little buggies for me! (Especially because if it was real life I know you would be even more grossed out that I was!!!)

Let's Rock Today

2010-08-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

My husband had a reunion show this week for an old friend's birthday, and they totally rocked! Let me introduce you to the band:

Meet Robbed

Dima: Lead Guitar Cameron: Bass

Clint: vocals and guitar Josh: Drums

Ya, that's my husband shredding it... no big deal :)

It was a great time and proved once again why my husband is so totally awesome!

Disney

2010-08-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

This last summer Dima has been working in Salt Lake for Ernst & Young a public accounting firm in their audit department. At the end of the internship they had an international intern conference at Disneyworld in Florida!! He got to stay there for nearly a week doing workshops, classes, playing at the pool and got one night at the one of the Disney parks.

(letf): This was his group for one of the activities. (center) one of the team-building workshops, they had to help one of their teammembers get over the giant spool of string. (right) this was the room for one of the conference presentations

Magical Kingdom:

Only been there 5 minutes and he's already been acting up....

The firework show and light parade!!! Their floats are amazing!!

Closing social at the conference:

He just finished his internship last week and they were so impressed with his mad Excel skills, hard work, sparkling personality, and intuition that they offered him a full time position when he finishes school! Slat Lake City here we come! (in about 9 months anyway...)

Go Shorty

2010-08-17T15:58:00.001-07:00

It was Dima's birthday Aug 7th, and while we didn't "sip Bacardi", we sure did "party like it was his birthday"! We were both out of town on the actual day - Dima in Disneyworld, and me in Vegas - so unfortunately I didn't get to celebrate with him then, but instead we had a birthday week consisting of several phases, all of which I can't really remember, but here are the big two:

phase 1- borscht

aka: beet soup. This is one of the traditional Ukrainian dishes that Dima has missed since he has been here in the states, so I thought I'd make it for his birthday dinner. It took way longer than I though, considering all the chopping and stewing it required. Look at that rich color though! my counter, cutting boards, towels, and hands were all that color too by the end! :) It was better than I thought it would be, but I think I'll make some of my own adjustments next time I make it. Dima was happy though.

phase 2- park city

This was the big phase. I surprised him with a free weekend in Park City where we stayed at my friend's cabin. I picked him up from work early on Friday and we spend a glorious weekend sleeping in, watching movies, going on walks, having dinner on the roof, and going downtown visiting the shops and having dinner with live entertainment. it was so great! the whole time I was like, "is this my birthday or yours? because I am just loving this!"

Dinner downtown at Easy Street. Food, not great, but great atmosphere, live music, and perfect weather.

Beautiful Park City.

On our walk, soaking up/embracing nature. haha

Where we stayed:

Dinner on the roof, it doesn't look like much, but it was a great view and we could hear a Led Zeppelin tribute band that was playing down the street - it set a very romantic tone :) Then dinner was followed by star gazing while Dima played me some songs on his guitar.

Overall a great weekend. Happy birthday baby! I love you and am so grateful to have you in my life!

Long Over Due

2010-08-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on editing and picking out the pictures I want to share from our actual wedding, but while I'm doing that, here are some that my sister and brother-in-law took. I feel like some of them could have come out of a magazine :) Thanks again guys!

Ambitions

2010-08-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from a friend's blog:

22 Things I'd like to do while I'm 22:

1- find a job: check (Heritage)

2- run a half marathon: check (Halloween Half)

3- make a quilt

4- decorate our apt: check (see here)

5- learn Russian (well start anyway, I feel like this will be a long process and something I'll be working on for years)

started.. i even learned a song the other day :)

6- get back into photography: work in progress, but used it here

7- travel (maybe a california trip, or Tahoe, maybe Seattle... who knows.)

8- join a book club (anyone know of one?)

went a few times to my ward one, but have been reading lots on my own. (If you have any good book suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments!)

9- make a jewelry tree

10- hike Mt. Timp

11- breakfast picnic in the Lavender Fields: attempted.. but fail. it was past lavender season and they were all dead... :(

12- make a book/journal (picture below is one my sister made)

13- go to the farmer's market

14- ride the Sundance night ski lift: check

15- attend the Story Telling Festival: check

16- Visit the Midway Ice Castles (check out his blog here) CHECK!!!! see here

17- regularly do yoga

18- float the Provo River

19- go to a demolition derby/monster truck rally

20- go dancing with Dimitriy: check (Masquerade)

21- go to festival of trees - check! posted about it here

22- start our own traditions: check (but also a work in progress), we decided that we will carve pumpkins and attend a corn maze (I just snuck that one in) every halloween, make gingerbread houses every Christmas, attend and participate in Festival of Trees (at least while we live in Utah) and go sledding at least once every winter - if we live in snow. (I'm sure more will come as we get farther into the holiday season)

I'll try to remember to mark them off when I've done them, and hopefully do a post too...

LOVE

2010-07-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

So I realized that I skipped all the story and all the details about mine and Dimitriy's story. So what better time than now to catch up. We met last summer in our student ward and lived less than a block from each other. We met at the ward opening social when I went to stand with my roommate who was talking to him and his roommate. The next week I gave him a ride home from our ward FHE, went on our first date that Wednesday, and spent almost everyday together since. We met each other's families late that summer and by February we were engaged! (Click here for our engagement story). I've posted some pictures from our dating(click here), but never posted our engagement photos. We had two wonderful shoots, one with Heather Neeley from NewStart Photography (I used to work for her in Vegas) and another with my sister and brother-in-law from Bird on a Wire Photography.

Bird on a Wire shoot:

NewStart Photography shoot:

Freedom Celebrations

2010-07-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July was great, we got to experience TWO parades! and seeing as this is only my second year really seeing one, I was very excited. We joined our good friends Ryan and Kathy and their family up in Bountiful for Addi's birthday where he had a tent city! it was so awesome! 7 tents: each with its own delight: a pillow fight tent, filled with nothing but pillows, blankets, and all things squishy; another filled with balloons, one for eating, one for movies, one with paper to shred and play in, one for presents and one for eating... what else do you need? a pina? cake? ice cream? a bubble machine? -- don't you worry, they were all there too... this party was brilliant!- I'd totally do that for my 23rd birthday!

We got to sleep over in one of the tents because the next morning we hit up our first parade near Bountiful. This one, not so much about the floats as it is an advertisement for all the local politicians and businesses, but there was lots of candy! and a few school bands, so really what else do you need? Then after the parade the whole town goes down the street for more festivities. They had several food booths (I got a philly cheesesteak while Dima went with the tacos and a frozen banana) They had some local entertainment and blow-up slides and jump houses for the kids along with a lady that would make balloon animals and swords for the kids.

After that we saw the new Robin Hood! I felt like it was similar to most movies in that genre, and it reminded me of King Arthur the way it was filmed, but it was really good: great cinematography, good acting, and really good music.

We then wrapped up the night with the most amazing firework show I have ever seen! We went to a golf course between Bountiful and SLC and you just took chairs and blankets and sat wherever you wanted!!! that's right, right on the golf course! They also had food booths and live bands, etc. that we visited, but then sat on the opposite side of the course near a pond with little duckies. We ran around with the kids and played until the show, where the whole time it could have easily been the finale, that's how good it was! -- Thanks Ryan and Kathy for letting us hang out with you! We had so much fun!

The festivities continued on Monday when Dima and I went up Provo Canyon for a morning hike/walk. (early morning people, so don't mind my haggard-ness)

Then we made it home (barely, every street to our apt was blocked off by policemen) in time for our SECOND PARADE!!!! woo! We got really good seats even though we got there 5 mins before it started and got to see some awesome floats!

along with some performing groups-- gymnasts, clowns, island dancers, bagpipers, and plenty of high school bands.

-- This parade, not so much about the candy, but totally awesome! It was amazing to think that this day exactly one year ago I went with Dima to my first parade. It was fun to see where a year has taken us.

from last year:

to this year:

So happy 4th everyone! This year I really felt the gravity of this holiday and all it represents, and though our nation is far from perfect I feel so blessed to live here.

Bingo Bango's

2010-07-16T10:11:00.001-07:00

I did it! I faced my fear, and actually did it. I now have bangs.

This is something I have been thinking about doing for... probably a few years, but I always chicken out, or make excuses such as:

- I'll have to do my hair everyday (which I definitely don't do currently)

- What do I do when I do my hair curly?

- What happens when I get sweaty and my bangs get wet and then they wave/curl?

- I'll have to get hair cuts regularly to keep them looking good (which would be a burden, to give you an idea, I get my haircut about once a year, maybe year and a half...)

-I'll look like a completely different person.

I haven't had bangs since I was a little girl, and that was in the 90's so naturally they looked a little something like this: The glamourous Saved By The Bell feathered look.

And if, say, hypothetically speaking, I woke up late, and didn't have time to do my bangs, they'd end up looking like this...

and then who would take me seriously?

And besides, could I really be trusted with bangs? Last time I had them I wondered what I'd look like without bangs so I cut them right off at the hairline. True Story, click here for all the hairy details.

In addition, I didn't know what kind of bangs I wanted:

Blunt and thick?

Shaggy?

Swoop?

Finally, I settled on this look:

and this is how it turned out:

What do ya think?

WILD THANG!! You make my heart sang! You make everythang.... grooovay!

2010-07-13T17:36:00.001-07:00

Dima and I got "Where the Wild Things Are" on netflix and decided to make a datenight out of it.

I was SO excited all week, and finally Friday came, and our date began.

First we grabbed some dinner at Burger Supreme (Dima and I were addicted to this place when we were dating, but we are trying to cut back on eating out, esp fast food, so its been ages since we ate here. Try the chocolate shake, its delicious!!!)

Next we went here:

To read this:

Dima had never read or heard of this story seeing as he grew up in Ukraine, and it had been years since I'd read it, so we thought it would be fun to read the story before we saw the movie. We loved it!

Next we went home to simulate the story by building a truly awesome fort! That looked something like this:

It was hard to get a good one because the fort took up nearly our whole living room, and I couldn't stand back far enough to capture it all at once. (this is when it comes in handy to have 3 sets of sheets and several blankets :)

We even had a broom that had pillow cases hanging over it that you could slide open or closed as a door into the fort :)

we also had some side windows, which worked out perfectly because it funneled the air conditioning right into the fort.

Inside we layered our sleeping bags, every blanket we could find, our comforter from our bed and some pillows to make it nice and cozy.

Then we made some crowns out of tin foil, cut up some watermelon, and snuggled in to enjoy the movie.

It was lots different than I was expecting, and pretty slow, but it had some deep messages. Overall the date was a hit!

What Can You Do?

2010-07-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is crazy!!!

Thought process during this video:

1) Is this even real?!

2) That's amazing!

3) People have too much time on their hands

4) Or is that the point? - Are you supposed to find something you love and do it, and become an expert in it? That's what we are told to do with our jobs/skills.

That lead me to think of all the things I loved and was so good at and have let go for one reason or another. It made me want to get back into my hobbies and practice and apply myself to bring more happiness and fullfillment to my life. I want to get back into soccer, into photography, start sewing, learn Russian, and get even better at cooking!

What are your hobbies? or what do you want to pick up?

My Precious

2010-07-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

So, here is our engagement story:

February 27, 2010

We had been talking about marriage for a few months at this point, and it was taking wayyyy too long in my opinion :) We had gone ring shopping and I picked out my favorite 5 (which were nothing alike by the way... but all simple, timeless, and perfect) and was just waiting for Dima to pick the one. Poor guy, he was so busy, and trying to make it a surprise, and I kept asking him if he'd chosen yet, or how far along he was. -- I may or may not have been a little antsy.

So this particular weekend Dima told me that our good friends Ryan and Kathy had extra tickets to a symphony and asked if we wanted to go. I was super excited, not only had it been forever since we'd seen them, but I had never seen a symphony before and LOVE string instruments!! So that morning he tells me that we will be leaving at 5, and we have to leave at 5 because it was going to be busy and we still had to pick up the tickets and yada yada ya. Which made sense. So I'm getting ready and putting on my make-up I looked at myself in the mirror all dressed up and I'm like "He's totally going to propose!!!" But then I was pushed it out of my mind thinking, "No, he's not going to until next month" (during a conversation earlier that month he asked me if I had to work a particular Saturday in March, and when I asked why he suspiciously said, "don't worry about it"... so I concluded that that was the day he was planning to propose.) I also didn't want to get my hopes up and then be disappointed because it was going to be a lovely evening anyway. But I decided to take my camera "Just in case" :) So Dima came right at 5, as promised, and once we were on our way I completely forgot about that idea in the bathroom. We had a great drive up with lots of laughing and joking, and Dima was playing up the symphony asking me if I'd ever been to one, and what I thought it would be like... so needless to say at this point I was thoroughly convinced that's where we were going. So the plan was to park up by the Capitol Building to meet our friends and then walk down to where the symphony what playing. We were running a few minutes late so Dima called Ryan only to find out that Ryan and Kathy were going to be another 20 minutes. I thought this was weird because a) they aren't usually late, and b) Dima made such a big deal about being on time and how close we'd be cutting it anyway. But, they did have 4 kids and I'm sure that can cause delays from time to time. So while we waited we went on a walk at Memory Grove park. It was the most beautiful park! absolutely picturesque, and I love walks so I was enjoying it. There were people jogging, kids playing soccer, and a girl taking Bridal pictures by a big sculpture. On our walk Dima was like, "let's see what's this way" and it was a path that went behind the girl taking her bridals, and since I used to work for a photographer and remember how annoying it was to wait for people while they walked behind your picture, or to photoshop them out, I was pretty against going that way. But he kept pushing saying that they wouldn't be able to see us behind the big statue, and to just come on. So I did. And there was a cute little bench there with a dozen red roses on them. My first thought though, was "See, those are the brides flowers, all her stuff's here, we aren't supposed to be back here"... but then Dima was kind of shaking and he said, "I think those might be for you". And that's when I knew. I knew that any second now he was going to ask me to be his. I gave him a huge hug and just kept saying "thank you thank you thank you!!" and then he laughed and said, "you haven't even looked at them yet" and all I could say was "I see them!!!" because I was so excited and anxious. But then in my head, I replayed what he just said (you haven't even looked at them yet) and thought, ohhh, I probably should, maybe something's in them... So I break away and wander over, and pick them up. There was just a note that said "for monique" though. So we sit down on the bench and talk a little bit, and then he got down on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I was so excited all I could get out was a high-pitched, "uh-huh" as I was nodding my head, smiling so big it took up 2/3 of my face, and pulling him off his knee and into a hug. I didn't even look at the ring, I was just so excited that he asked me. So he put the ring on (he was still shaking and thought for a second it was too small, but he just didn't want to push too hard. :) It fit perfectly.) We sat there for a few minutes enjoying the experience that had just happened and then we took a few pictures because I just happened to have my camera with me :)

Well we were taking some pictures and the mom of the girl taking her bridals was standing on the side and so she could see us behind the statue and asked if we wanted her to take some pictures. She was so excited for us and it was nice to have her snap a few.

Well at this point I thought we were still meeting Ryan and Kathy for the symphony (Dima's a very good actor, and had me convinced). So I asked, "Oh, are they here? Do we need to go? Are we going to be late?" and he just smiled and said, no they'll call when they're here. So we just continued to sit on the bench and talk. Then he got a call said "5 minutes? sounds good" then asked if we should go. And so me, thinking we were now way behind schedule and still needed to pick up the tickets, started b-lining it out of there while Dima was dilly-dallying like we had no where to be. He was stopping at every tree to see in who's name it was dedicated. I was so confused, but they did say 5 mins, and we were just right there, so I slowed down and walked with him.

Then I see a horse-drawn carriage pull up, and my thought were "I'm pretty sure that's for me, but I don't want to make a big deal out of it and then have him be like, 'ya, that's really cool, well, here's ryan and kathy, should we go?'" so I didn't really say anything, but then it was for us. So we snuggled in and it took us for a turn around the park and then to downtown.

While we were on our ride Ryan called (he had helped with all the behind-the-scenes like putting the flowers on the bench, and then when Dima called to say that we were running late he told him where they were, etc.) and Dima jokingly said "ya, thanks for ditching out on us jerks" so that's when I knew there would be no symphony. But I perfectly ok with that. We got dropped off at temple square and he asked what I thought we were going to do now, and I guessed dinner. I was right. We went to The Roof, which is the restaurant right across the street from the temple, and you can see it right out the window.

We got there at the perfect time, we got to see the sun set, and all the lights slowly come on and by the time we left it was dark and the temple was completely lit up. It was gorgeous! and the atmosphere was so cool there. They had a pianist playing and a fancy buffet.. it was great.

Then we rushed back to my car (parked in a two hour parking spot.. oops. luckily no ticket) and drove back to Provo. I slept very well that night. :)

It Is Finished

2010-07-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

I GRADUATED!!!!! and it felt good! I went to the commencement and ceremony because that's what you do, and I figured, why not? I'll be here anyway. And I am so glad I did, because this really is a huge accomplishment. This is what I have been doing for the last 4 years of my life, and it has occupied most of my time, stress, and brain space. I graduated with a B.S. in Public Health, with an emphasis in health promotion. The commencement programs were just perfect, the speakers were all just the right length and very appropriate, and it gave me closure and a chance to reflect on my overall experience, and how I've changed and grown since I came here as a little freshman, and what my goals and dreams are from here. The only disappointment was that they had you turn your tassel to the other side when you are in the tunnel lined up to walk across the stage... talk about anti-climatic.. there you are, by yourself, with no one watching, no synchronization... just a woman running up and down the line shouting in forceful whispers to turn your tassel. Lame.

My family was great, I had so much support and people traveled so far to come watch me march across the stage (and yes, it was very hard not to bust a dance move up there). So thanks everyone! Here are some pictures from the big day!

Meet Kristen. She is one of my favorite people in the major, actually, world. She is awesome, one of my favorite people to work with because she is fun and laid back, but totally reliable and gets things done and done well!!! So here we are waiting in line to go into the Marriot and enjoying being done.

Oh happy day! This is us after the first day where the main speaker congratulates all BYU grads together. The next day we split up into our specific colleges and they had speakers from our majors, and that's when we got our diplomas.

This is Audrey, she is another of my favorites from the major, but more than that we have been very good friends since elementary school and were roommates for a semester. We are pretty much the same person.... same major, same hobbies and interests, and got engaged and married pretty much at the same time too. Love you girl! (Also, our commencement was at 7 in the morning... so thus the "I just rolled out of bed and landed in this big poncho and ran across campus to be here" look).

Here is my sweet family that came in from all over to support me: Nicole and little Vienna (Alma's taking the picture and jagger's somewhere...) up from Vegas, my grandparents from Salt Lake, my fiance, and mom and dad from Texas.

Here it is: THE MOMENT!!!! The few seconds that equal the entire reason for coming. Walking across the stage to be recognized and receive my diploma (well the diploma case actually... the actual diploma doesn't come until a month later in the mail).

There I am, first row of the bleachers, second person in just after my big debut.

Meeting up with the family trying to get out of the Marriott Center.

Check out how crazy this place is! "Everybody, up and rush the door. Push and shove, this is the last plane out of 'Nam"

My supporters:

Hahaha, I love this picture, my dad is almost more excited than I am!!!

YAY!!!! I DID IT!!!!

My Man

2010-07-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

So, I have been very negligent in blogging lately, and a lot of that has to do with my new distraction in life: Dimitriy. He came along and swept me off my feet and we've been spending pretty much all our time together since our first date. We dated for nearly a year and liked it so much we thought we'd seal the deal. We got married May 22, 2010 (posting upcoming) in Salt Lake City. And because he's pretty much a permanent part of my life at this point, I'd like to introduce you to my love and fill you in on some of what we've been up to this last year: (sorry they are in reverse order...)

We saw Avatar in 3-D, and we loved it!

Christmas with my Family in Texas: Gingerbread house/castle - I think I won that competition :)

Sledding!!!! and maybe some tackling ...

Bicycle built for two? Yes please! -- So I have always wanted to do this, so when we were in Idaho visiting Lici we rented one and took this baby for a spin... check out the pure joy on my face.

Floating the Provo River!! I have also always wanted to do this, and Dima made my dream come true! It was cold and rocky, but the view was beautiful, and we were the only ones out there! -- well minus the clepto that stole Dima's shoes...

A little Vegas Vacation. It wouldn't be complete without an In n Out stop

Shooting in Vegas with Dad and Lici. This was Dima's target... It may look like mine the way I'm pointing at it all excitedly... but alas, it is not.

Hike in Mt. Charleston that morning. I love this picture.

Dima took me to the All-Star game in Salt Lake. It was so fun! and we got these sweet public health sweat bands that say "Real Fans Buckle Up" -- for the Real soccer team. Public health workers are just so witty and clever.

We painted cereal bowls for each other. I painted a robot in his because he calls me robot sometimes, and I like them... a lot. :) (for a case and point check out our halloween costumes)

Salt Lake Bees game! This is one of our first pictures together, and its still one of my favorites.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

2009-10-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

I was a robot for halloween, and it was awesome!

Love this.

2009-10-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

Fill in the blank

2009-09-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

Fill in the blanks. This is really fun to read. So post it as a comment and let me read what you got :)

I _________ you. You have a nice ________. You make me ________. You should _________. Someday I will ___________. You + me =___________.

If I saw you now I'd ___________. Remember that time when ___________? I would build a _________ just for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________________
We could _________ under the stars.

Love,
_________

(P.S. ____________________ )

Already?

2009-09-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

I applied for graduation today. Weird.