Fall decor, Baby shower invitations, Anniversary(kind of)

Tai Pan has the most fabulous decorations, as I'm sure many of you already know!! I could completely loose my head in there, but Jeremy reminds me I have to limit my "decor purchasing" until we have a house of our own, or at least a storage unit... we are fresh out of "under the bed" storage space!!! But I did walk away from Tai Pan with a beauty this weekend... a huge FALL garland! Can't wait to have a house to decorate each holiday to the MAX! Someday... someday!  

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I are throwing Jeremy's sister, LANAE, a baby shower on the 8th of November and I volunteered to make the invitations. My sister, Lacie, gave me a "diaper invitation" idea, and this is my end product. Thank goodness I had Jeremy to help me, they were more work than I anticipated.. but actually SO fun to make. We are so excited for LaNae!!!! She has 2 sweet boys, and this will be her first GIRL!

I'm kind of a sap when it comes to remembering and wanting to celebrate EVERY anniversary possible... first date anniversary, first kiss anniversary, engagement day anniversary.. etc! Yes.. I am 16 at heart! Hopeless Romantic I guess.

 Well, this last weekend Jeremy and I celebrated our FIRST DATE ANNIVERSARY... 

October 22 was 4 YEARS since our FIRST DATE! It's so weird because in a sense I CAN'T believe it's been that long since I first met him... but in another sense I can't remember my life without him, and I'm SO grateful I'll never have to imagine it without him for the rest of my life! 

I was going to "recreate" our whole first date for him.. but he had to study most of the night, so we just ordered take out from Olive Garden and he surprised me with flowers.

Here's to 4 years sweetie! It really just keeps getting better!   

Our dating years...

Frightmares

FRIGHTMARES

with Hayley & JC.... and... Amy & Craig
SO GOOD TO SEE YOU GUYS we had a blast!

Tag... and Fall pictures

My sister-in-law JEN and I have been talking about going up to the canyon and taking family pictures for the last couple of months, and finally went and did it last week. She has a really nice camera and we got some gorgeous pictures of their family and she took a few of Jeremy and I as well... these are just with my camera, so they don't look near as good as the ones on her camera, but she had some great places picked out to go take pictures. I LOVE THE FALL! And I love pictures... I would love to get into photography, and have told Jeremy that a million times.. I need to just start it as a hobby! I'll post some of the nicer ones from her camera when I get them from her.


TAGGED.. I was tagged by Lacie and Jen Barlow.... so I'm just going to combine the two ;)

"8 THINGS TAG"

8 PLACES I LIKE TO EAT:
1: JOHNNY CARINOS (Italian Nachos.. am I drooling??)
2: McDONALDS... I know, pretty freak'n ghetto, but nothing beats a good 10 piece chicken nuggett drenched in sweet and sour sauce, a good ole traditional hamburger with extra pickles, fries, and the whole deal topped off with a light lemonade
3. JIMMY JOHNS
4. BLACK JACK PIZZA.... any pizza for that matter as long as there is ranch to dip it in!!
5. RUTH'S CHRIS STEAKHOUSE- I'm not the biggest meat-eater, but this place could seriously turn me into a meat-a-tarian (I know thats not a word, but you know what I mean, and it describes it perfectly in my mind!)
6. CHUCK-0-RAMA.. makes me laugh just to put this one on the list... my sister also listed this one as one of her fav's... its a family favorite, and kind of a family joke, but none the less, no one can argue that a buffett just sometimes hits the spot!
7. TUCANOS
8. ZUPAS


8 SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH-
We honestly don't watch very much TV and I don't have shows I follow really regularly.. but these are a few I like to catch occasionally

1. SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE- sometimes I pretend I'm on the show or auditioning for it, but I got a really bad carpet burn at my parents house the last time I was "auditioning" in their family room, so I've taken a few months off ;)
2. AMERICAN IDOL
3. THE OFFICE
4. ANIMAL PLANET- I was an animal in another life, sometimes I think I was some sort of small dog, but other times I get the feeling I was a sea creature, like a dolphin... LOVE dolphins! I can watch the animal planet for hours... its Jeremy's trade off for me letting him watch so much football and baseball
5. COLD CASE FILES- I stole this one also from my sister, its kinda wierd we like these shows so much, because they are so freaky, and it usually gives me nightmares, but they really are addicting! That makes my family sound kinda psycho doesn't it??!!
6. AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL- I know.. shallow
7. Football games- I don't crave watching football, but I've actually really come to enjoy it just because Jeremy likes it so much.
8. DEAL or NO DEAL- I have actually filled out an application to be on this show, but haven't made a video that is required for it yet! I haven't seen it in a while, but there for a while I was LOV'N it. My heart pounds and my palms get all sweaty just watching the contestants!!

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK:
1. We went to FRIGHTMARES at Lagoon with friends from Poky.. SO FUN
2. Took pictures of my brother's family in the canyon and they took some of us
3. Had our good friends, Chels and Gord stay with us for 2 nights
4. We bought a new camera... since I dropped ours on a rock and broke the zoom... oops!
5. Went to Jeremy's end of the year work party in Salt Lake
6. Went shopping at the Gateway and went to my favorite store.. ANTHROPOLOGIE... and bought a fantabulous hat.. I will post a picture soon.. it was a fun purchase! Just wish I could afford more in there because the sytle of that store is to die for!
7. Jeremy came home from school with roses and candy for me.. just because.. love that FRIEND!
8. Made some magnets my sister taught me to make.. and made a few cards


8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. To eventually live closer to my family and Jeremy's family, especially when we start having kids- I know we are only 4 hours away, but that is 4 hours too far when the fun is happening without us ;)
2. To be on So You Think You Can Dance- even though my only moves are the roger rabbit and the worm... but they have been perfected over the years.. believe me!
3. In all seriousness... to be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter, and person in general.. but I guess this doesn't have to be on my wish list.. I just need to do it!
4. Complete a full triathlon.. I better learn to do more than a doggy pattle and back stroke for the swim I guess! I did a SMALL sprint triathlon and LOVED it, I can't even imagine the sense of accomplishment that would come with doing a full!
5. To go skydiving BEFORE I have kids!
6. To travel the world with my sweet husband- HAWAII then Paris are first on our list!
7. To have Mark Consuelos give me a little kiss on the cheek... just a harmless kiss on the cheek like a brother would to a sister.... Jeremy wouldn't mind... he would acutally like to give his wife Kelly Ripa a little smooch himself! ;)
8. To be a mom someday... and to be as great of a mom as all the women in my life are to their sweet children.. MY MOM, my sisters, my sister-in-laws, my mother-in-law, and all my friends! What perfect examples I have to make this wish come true!!

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
1. Seeing what our kids will look like (will they have a gonzo nose???? will they have snake-head toe feet like me??? will they have Jeremy's sweet dimples and eyes???? ), and seeing Jeremy as a father
2. Having Jeremy done with school and settled in a career
3. Having a house of our own so I can get a puppy.. and getting a new guest bed (mattress) so our guests won't have to make excuses not to stay with us because of our concrete bed.
4. CHRISTMAS!! Gives me butterflies just thinking about christmas time
5. Having the snow melt.. oh yeah.. there is no snow on the ground yet, but I'm already looking forward to it being gone!
6. Getting a pedicure for the cruise this week... lets get on it Jenna!~
7. Gettting together with old friends and making new ones!
8. Seeing my own kids get married in the temple! My whole family and Jeremy's whole family were able to be in the temple with us as we were sealed. What an amazing thing, and what compliment to both of our parents to have each and everyone of their kids in the temple together!

I apoligize for any spelling errors or things that don't makes sense.. I'm too tired to proof read, and the spell check doesn't work on this dang computer!

I tag..... Erin Guymon, Kate Ball, and Camille Messick

Friends...Work...Family....

FRIENDS>>>
Some of our Very best friends... CHELS, GORD, and TYDON came to stay with us Monday and Tuesday night because Gord had an interview here in Provo....it was so great to have them here, and I love their little buddy TYDON so much! He better still be say'n my name.. I worked on it with him the whole time he was here. We miss you guys already! ;)
Gord was refusing to make a normal face while I was trying to get a picture of him and Chels.. so Gord.. you deserve this one to be posted! Love you guys! GOOD LUCK WITH THE INTERVIEW!!!




WORK>>>
It's weird.. because I spend SOOO much of my time at work.. okay.... I guess I shouldn't say SOOOO much.. because I only work 3 days.... but a lot of my week is spent with the people I work with... and I think this is the first time I have ever posted pictures of them. Well here is the JEPPSON crew... and I LOVE them all to death! Seriously.. they are my 2nd family. I'm so lucky to work with such amazing people that not only all get along... but enjoy being around each other! I'm human and sometimes when I hear the alarm go off in the morning I want to throw it across the room and rip my hair out (exaggeration) because on a RARE occasion I dread waking up and going to work.. but definetly the majority of the time.. I would say 97.4% of the time... I enjoy going to work SO much.. even if it does mean smelling rotten mouths... and having plaque-infested saliva squirting me in the eye all day (I'm 95% joking... I really do love even the gory side of my job)
These 2 pictures are of our whole office at a convention in Salt Lake last week.. it was so GREAT... we learned a TON.. and it was just fun to be with all of them outside of the work environment. Nicole, Gale, Savannah (Savy), Kris, and Dr.Jeppson (and Hillary is missing from the picture, she is the other hygienist that works Mondays)... we are a small crew, but I'm pretty sure there is no other office that laughs as much as we do!




FAMILY>>>>


Jeremy became a "true mans man" this weekend.. as he has reminded me no less than 980 times in the last couple of days.. he went hunting with his dad, bro, and bro-in-law and he is the only that shot a DEER... he has had his chest puffed out a little more and his head has been a little higher and there has been a little skip in his step ever since. I think its sad personally, but I'll let him enjoy this great step into manhood just this one time ;) He had so much fun with the boys.. he has such a cute family!
While he went hunting I went with my parents to visit my sister, Lacie, and her family in Twin Falls. The girl that does Lacie and my mom's nails got baptized this last weekend and it was such a neat experience to be there for that. What amazing feelings that come with people joining the gospel!
And what I have been waiting for this whole post..... I'M IN LOVE!!!!!!!! ...... my nephew KEATON... aka... MISTER.... is inarguably the cutest, sweetest person alive. He smiled and laughed all weekend.. and I completely fell in love with him! I don't get to see him near enough.. but it was so fun to SQUEEZE and kiss him to death last weekend. Sweetest face I've ever seen... along with all my other nieces and nephews... all boasting aside... I have the cutest family!

Love conference!

CONFERENCE IS WONDERFUL .. not much else I need to say! Such a blessing to have such great motivation and guidance from our leaders every 6 months. LOVE IT!

My mom came for the weekend.. and like I have mentioned before.. she is my very best friend. She is sincerely one of the sweetest and SELFLESS people in the entire world, and not to mention a HOOT to have around! I only hope I can be half the mom she has ALWAYS been to me and all my brothers and sisters. I love my family so much, and am so incredibly blessed.

Chase (Jeremy's brother),Brooke, Travis and Nicole stayed with us Friday night.. and we were lov'n it!! WE LOVE COMPANY!! They are the cutest couples and we hope they will come stay with us again DESPITE THE TRAIN that woke them and their babies up a few times .... and our CONCRETE guest bed (hope your back is healing Nicole Ü)... SORRY GUYS! We stayed up playing WII all night... I'm laughing out loud just thinking about those boys getting SO into it. I use to think the intensity of boys playing sports intramurals was bad.. the WII is a stiff competitor to intramurals! We love you guys!

My mom, Jeremy, and I met up with my brother and sister-in-law and their girls at Gardeners Village on Friday night, fun little place!!

And after the Sunday afternoon session, Jeremy and I took a drive through Provo canyon. It was BEAUTIFUL, but we only got out of the car by the waterfall for a second because it was freezing!




Yes.. its true.. we both look pretty ROUGH.. but come on.. it was conference weekend, right?!! We didn't get ready for a good 48 hours, we are lucky we even got out of our pajamas right before we left for the drive. Please just focus on the beautiful scenery Ü

WHAT A WEEKEND!!

Jeremy & I took off for the weekend to
LOS ANGELES!!
We had the most FANTABULOUS time!

This sunset was incredible

This slideshow shows most of our trip.. but you know me.. I have to go into a little bit (okay A LOT of bit) of detail.. so bare with me once again.

.... and this one is a long one.... so I won't feel bad if you don't read it. Blogging, to me, is sometimes just like a journal... and writing is therapy in a lot of ways... you agree?

The main reason we chose L.A. was to see the play WICKED... and let me tell you it WAS wicked.. ill .. phat ... crazy awesome Ü! If you haven't seen it yet its coming to Salt Lake this April.. so get it planned now.... it really is a MUST SEE!!

Another thing that drew us to L.A. was, like I have mentioned a million times, Jeremy LOVES baseball and he wanted to see the Dodgers play, they weren't there this past weekend so Jeremy said he would settle for the Angles game..

so....Saturday night we were on our way to the game...and traffic in L.A. on a Saturday night is INSANE! By the time we got to the stadium we were already an hour and a half late to the game; still planning on going we were trying to find parking and saw a billboard that said

"SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE LIVE TOUR.. TONIGHT".... I FREAKED.. to say the least! Jeremy was actually more excited about it than I thought he would be and said we could try to get tickets last minute instead of going to the baseball game because we were already so late for it. LOVE THAT GUY! We got tickets!! Jeremy said it was more fun to watch me than it was to watch the show because I was screaming the whole time and couldn't stop smiling and got jiggy with it a little Ü. Anyone who knows me knows how crazy in love I am about dancing, even though I'm not good at all! But since the show started I've always wanted to see a "So you think you can dance" tour.. so it really was the truest treat ever Ü!

We also drove to HOLLYWOOD and got up really close to the Hollywood sign. It's funny how something that simple can be so exciting to see for the first time. I think its because we have seen it on T.V. a million times and in movies.. so it made us feel pretty dang sweet to see it up that close.. we're so lame Ü It was also so cool to see all the names of famous people on the stars on the sidewalks.

I have my own STAR!!!! Ü

... and one little last treat for you all..... Jeremy and I were walking around downtown Hollywood and guess who we saw.... KEVIN.... FROM THE OFFICE!!! I stared as long as I could before Jeremy told me I was on the Verge of being slightly stock-ish, creepy and rude Ü I tried to get a picture but it didn't turn out very well.. he as wearing a hat and glasses.. but we KNOW it was him.. he is pretty hard to miss, right?!!

Now for honestly the biggest highlight of the entire weekend...

I have started reading the book "The Peacegiver" by James L. Ferrell, a couple of times, and have loved it every time I have attempted to read it, but something has always come up and I never finished it. I took it on the trip with me this weekend and finished it. I wish I could put into words the feelings I had as I read this book. Just one of those moments that you're whole life, present and future, flash before you and the purpose and importance of this life are crystal clear and completely make sense. I'm sure we have all had many experiences like this.. if only we could make them last all day everyday to the extent we feel them right in that moment huh?!!

As I was reading this book it was like I couldn't read fast enough, my heart was pounding out of my chest, and my eyes were watered up through most of it. I guess the best way of explaining this experience was that the Spirit was truly teaching me so many things about my life and "reminding" me of things I should be putting more effort and energy into throughout my everyday life.

This books centers around a marriage that is on the rocks and teaches a lot about forgiveness and repentance... two things I could improve upon each day! It also teaches that the burden of holding grudges and the damage of thinking we DESERVE so much better than our current situation, is in reality the very feelings that hinder our own happiness, stunt our growth, and diminish our relationship with our Heavenly Father. The book reminds us to put these trials, temptations, and natural man tendencies in the Lord's hands because he has ALREADY taken them upon himself. The key is LEARNING how to let go of these things, and doing so by understanding the atonement more fully. I'm so grateful I don't "get what I deserve" (make more sense after you read it)... and I'm eternally grateful for the Savior's infinite atonement and the opportunity that allows me to try... learn from that trial...then try again after I fail over and over.

The book goes so far beyond just being able to apply it to marriages or relationships. It can apply to every aspect of life in one way or the other. Jeremy and I are both so blessed and we talk about that all the time, and we HONESTLY know that is because of nothing that we have done on our own, but because of the perfect love our Heavenly Father has for us and because of how happy and successful he wants us ALL to be.

Reading, learning, and "feeling" was the easy part... now if I can put those feelings and realizations into action! But I really do have a new motivation to try to do just that!

Read it if you haven't.. you will love it!