A bit of catch up... a bit of new!

Sorry that i haven't done any "real" blogging for a long time. Steve and I are still alive I promise! We've had a lot going on lately so blogging has taken a back-seat! I just wanted to post a few pictures from our Utah trip way back at the beginning of January. We spent a week in Centerville with Steve's family and had a great time as always, snowboarding, playing cards, and hanging out! The biggest surprise was to find out Steve's sister Laura is pregnant! We were so excited for her and Jordan!

Grandpa Hale came with Steve, Brent and me on the first day we went snowboarding! We all had a great time together

On a couple of days, Rach and I decided to let the boys go to the mountain early so we could sleep in. We had a great time getting more sleep and chatting on the way up!

Playin' Hale family favorite- Rook. I can't believe I used to hate this game

This next segment is just a funny story about how much of an engineer Steve is. It goes a little something like this.... I decided to get my bike back from the house I lived in before we got married (I know it's been a while!). I had a padlock on there and had long forgotten the combination, so after I picked it up I decided that I would just leave the old lock on and buy a new one. No big deal right???? WRONG!!!! Steve thought that was a terrible because "it would look stupid". So we go on a trip to Wal-Mart and Steve decides that if got a hacksaw he could saw through my masterlock. We get home and the hacksaw idea doesn't work. I suggest just buying a new lock like I wanted to in the first place, but Steve discovered that a Dremel tool (high powered rotary tool) can cut through a masterlock (Thank you, you-tube). This story ends with Steve buying a Dremel tool and cutting through my masterlock. Two hours and a cut padlock later, I don't have to buy a new bikelock... Haha

Steve with his new Dremel tool about to cut through the lock. (Yes those are ski goggles, he couldn't find his safety goggles)

The cut masterlock... The End!!!

The last weekend in January Steve went to Boston, MA for an interview with MIT. He went alone because we didn't want to spend the extra money for me to go! He had a great time! He loved the city, he loved the program and the school. We are anxiously awaiting the admissions decision that comes next month!

This is is Fenway Park, it was right by the hotel he stayed at. My sister Megan got Steve a killer deal on a hotel in the perfect location. Thanks Meg!

Random cool building....

This is a room in the Boston Public Library, Steve said it was a really cool building and most rooms were like this. Wierd huh?

Steve in downtown Boston...

For Valentines Day, we decided to forego giving eachother gifts and take a weekend away. We went up to Flagstaff, AZ, went snowboarding and spent the weekend. We had a total blast and it was sooo worth it! Luckily, Flagstaff got a record snowstorm a couple of days before we went boarding and there was great snow, and it was so beautiful! The first night we were there my friend Katie let us stay in her Dad's empty house. It was so nice, however the only drawback was the room we stayed in had twin beds. I felt like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo!!! We went snowboarding all day Saturday which was awesome! I learned how to CARVE, woot woot, and I finally got enough courage to go into the terrain park to watch Steve do some sweet tricks! After boarding, we checked in to our super cute bed and breakfast and got ready for dinner. We decided to avoid the fancy shmancy restaurants and head to Flagstaff's "favorite" pizza place. It was a good choice-- Yum! On Sunday we headed to Mesa cause my cousin Brock came was reporting his mission. We saw a lot of family and it was great to be there with all of them. Oh yes, Steve had another interview on Saturday with Kellog business school (Chicago), he could do an off campus interview and luckily his was in Gilbert. So we got to spend the night with my lovely mother and go to the temple on Friday afternoon. It was the perfect weekend!!!!!!!!!

Lucy and Ricky Beds

Beautiful Snowbowl ski resort

Us on the SLOW lift!

This was the first time the WRX really drove in snow, Steve thought it deserved documentation :)

The super cute Bed and breakfast we stayed in for the night- the Abineau Lodge

The view out of our window- we looked for animals but unfortunately saw none.


Last but not least, Steve has bought himself a mountain bike that he is practically in love with. I like to call it his mistress. Haha. But really the man loves this bike, he knows everything about it, each component, and why it's good, etc. etc. It has been really fun to both have bikes though. We have been going on night bike rides together. The other night we went on a bike ride and apparently rode through a huge sticker weed patch. When we got home I pulled some stickers out of my tires and immediately heard the hissing of a punctured tube, not just one tube but both the front and back. Only Steve's front tire was punctured! Anways we tried to fix mine tonight, and I found 6 holes in one tube and 8 in the other. We decided to just get new tubes instead of trying to fix all of those holes!

A Good Laugh

30 random things you may not know about me!

Ok I got tagged with this facebook but thought maybe you non-facebookers might like to see it.

1. If I am bored at home in the afternoon, I turn on dumb TV shows that I used to love 10 years ago (e.g. Full House, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, etc) After every time I do this i think to myself that show is dumb I shouldn't turn it on anymore. It apparently hasn't worked yet.

2. I HATE touching raw meat, it can make me gag

3. I have recently discovered my creative side. I love to scrapbook, am learning to sew, and still trying to get my apartment looking cute!

4. I try to convince myself daily to work out. I always have an excuse why I shouldn't but after time I workout, I feel like a million bucks!

5. Before I met Steve, I had never done anything with "-----board" in the name, now I am an avid wakeboarder and snowboarder

6. I have never gone skinnydipping in my life

7. I love riding my bike, and am excited that I finally have mine back and in working order!

8. I think Blue Bell ice cream is the end all say all of ice cream.

9. I am currently applying to FIVE graduate schools, and am totally SICK of writing about myself!

10. I love the Fall, it is my favorite season and the lack of it is one of the reasons why i am done with living in Arizona

11. I love flowers and plants and wish I could grow them.

12. I am a bargain hunter. I don't think I have bought more than 10 things in my entire life full price (It is possible that's an exaggeration).

13. At one time in my life, I owned more than 50 pairs of shoes.

14. Someday I want to buy a really old house and redo the whole thing. Or build a house that looks old and avoid all the remodeling....

15. What Not to Wear is my favorite tv show besides the Office (Steve detests What not to wear)

16. I always swore I would NEVER EVER be one of those people who gets married as a 19 year old. I got married when I was 19 and a half.

17. I am dying to know where Steve and I are going next year. The suspense is killing me

18. I am terrified of pregnancy. I don't want all of those bad things to happen to my body!!!!

19. Last week, an old woman tried to hit me with her purse, in the movie theater.

20. I can sing the free credit report.com commercial songs. Sad I know.

21. Someday I want to learn fluent Russian so Steve and I can talk to each other in it and maybe live in Russia for a few years.

22. I am super tight with my family and my in-laws. I love them all!!!

23. I hate shoes that cover my whole foot or that I have to wear socks with. I love ballet flats and flip-flops.

24. I used to think I wanted to have 12 kids. I am not sure what I was thinking now.

25. I told Steve I loved him first and I am the one who brought marriage up!!! Haha, I am not a patient woman!

26. I am a huge fan of snuggling. I love falling asleep in Steve's arms!!!

27. I have never mowed a lawn.. ever.. i hopefully never will

28. My dad wanted to name me Abreeza. When I was little I liked it and pretended it was my name. I would even write it as my name on school assignments

29. Steve has had to travel for business and other things without me at least ten times since we've been married. I used to think it would get easier the more he left but I think it's still just as hard.

30. I have a jacket fetish. If I could buy a million of one clothing item, it would probably be jackets.

I could never be a Pioneer....

So I promise I will eventually get around to posting about our Utah trip from a couple of weeks ago but I have two random stories I thought were worth sharing before I forget them!

On Saturday Steve and I went to the movies (cheap theater of course)! Anyways, while we are in the middle of this movie I was readjusting and accidentally moved the chair of the woman in front of me. All of the seats in this theater are rocking, which I didn't realize. I really didn't kick her chair that hard! So I whisper I'm sorry as loud as I can without being rude to other movie watchers, and this OLD woman turns around gives me a pointed stare, to which I reply again, I'm sorry in the loudest whisper I could. The next thing I know, the old woman turns around, picks up her purse and tries to HIT me with it!!!!! I said I was sorry TWO TIMES!!!! I was in shock that she tried to hit me and I was trying really hard not to burst out laughing! I mean, seriously, do crabby old women now have license to hit anyone that accidentally crosses them! I guess I am sharing this to see if this has happened to anyone else and hopefully to make you all laugh, because I know I laughed! HAHAHA

Second Story: Yesterday I got up to find that our apartment complex had turned the hot water off because of some pipe problem. I swear this happens like 2-3 times per week and it makes me crazy! It also reminds me of stories Steve tells about when he was in Ukraine (Apparently in Ukraine they will systematically shut off the hot water because it is too expensive). Back to the story.... I go to get into the shower and obviously cannot because the hot water isn't working. I called the office to ask when it would be back on and they say they don't know. I really needed to work on my graduate school applications but I can't work unless I am clean and I wasn't!!!! I figured it couldn't be that long for the water to come on so I decided to clean our apartment. Anyways, 3:30 p.m rolls around and the hot water still isn't on!!! I was sooo frustrated that I finally got all of the biggest pots in our house and boiled my own water! It took soooo long to boil and I only got half of a bath tub full of tepid water. While I was in the bath I was laughing at myself for boiling hot water and thinking I would make the absolute worst Pioneer!

Christmas 2008

Me and Steve had a GREAT Christmas this year! We drove 13 hours to Austin, TX because my oldest sister and her husband live there. There were 13 of us all together and all I can say is PARTY! It was really cool too because my cousin BrieAnn and her husband Jake and thier little baby Cora came too. It was the first time we've had a baby at a family get together! But Cora was so fun and we were all way sad when they left Friday! We really had a blast, Steve and I got there late late on Tuesday night and stayed until the next Monday morning. The family togetherness was so awesome on this trip, we all had a lot of fun and late nights spent hanging out. This next part I totally plagiarized from Mhari's blog, but I thought she did such a great job summing up our adventures that I couldn't do a better job. I will however make some changes to keep it interesting!


We spent Christmas Eve doing all kinds of things. Mom and Kiersty and I were making aprons for everyone. Kiersty found these super cute retro patterns and we all bought fabric and that was the majority of the day.


Steve was kind enough to let me open my gift a day early so that I could find out it wasn't a fish tank like he had been telling me all week.

Here is my apron! I spent ALL day making it, I am such a beginner, my mom had like 6 half way done when mine was half done! It was fun though, to figure out my machine actually make something!

The boys went to see Yes Man to avoid all this girly stuff. :-) And then came home to play more of the Wii puzzle game. It took 4 of them to solve portions of this. When Steve got here he was immediately attacked to find out which of the 4 of them took physics 2 last and could be a better problem solver. See how hard at work they were?

And then we had some yummy lasagna for dinner - Thanks Meg and Brittany, made sugar cookies - as if we hadn't eaten enough - even Cora jumped in to help.
And Mhari started baking for Christmas day. We had chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin caramel cheesecake, and caramel apple pie. And we ended the night with White Christmas to really get us in the spirit of things. And Cora let dad hold her and play with her and laughed at his funny faces. :-)


Christmas Day was a pretty laid back day. We ate a late brunch of Grandma Carlene's famous stuffed french toast and buttermilk syrup (THANKS GRANDMA FOR SHARING THE YUMMY GOODNESS!!!) and we finally started opening gifts around noonish. We always start out with the youngest and work our way up, so Cora was up first. She really wasn't sure what to do but enjoyed tearing up the paper more than the gifts probably.


Here is BrieAnn holding her best present of the year. Bows and all.
As well as a fabulous necklace - Thanks Steph.

Mhari got a garmin so she will stop calling James for directions when she doesn't prepare before leaving the house.

Seth got a soccer sweatshirt from Kiersty and his face says it all.
Brittany started a wrapping paper war with Seth and Steve...She just got beaned in the head twice in a row by them.

Jake for all of his spare time, now has a Rubiks cube to help occupy it.

And Steve got some new goggles so he can be totally pimp out on the slopes!
Mom got a new shirt to wear for pictures and of course for work too.

Dad got I believe the only John Wayne movie he doesn't already own. (now what do we get him?)
James got some new Wii games to entertain him when not busy with his car.

Megan got some new movies to entertain her roomates with.
And then there was the end of Hurricane Christmas '08!

We had a great Texas Christmas menu of brisket, mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese, and of course yummy pies. I will be trying to lose the weight for months to come!! And we did family pics. I'll post those later as this is already super long!
Friday morning BrieAnn and Jake and baby Cora had to head back home to Oklahoma for the Johnson family Christmas. We were sad for them to go, but so glad they made it and we got to hang out with them. The rest of us piled in to the cars and headed for Fredericksburg. It is a great little German, touristy town about an hour and a half from here. James and I love going there. Great food, great shopping and lots of fun. We took everyone to our fave restaurant - Friedhelm's Bavarian. It is fantastic food. I introduced them to schnitzel, spaetzle, rye bread and they loved it!! We then tried to go to the George H. W. Bush museum/Admiral Chester Nimitz museum of the Pacific Theater of WWII, but it was under construction. So instead we walked around the memorial wall. So many people gave their life for that. It is such a wonderful reminder of all those people were willing to sacrifice, and it makes me wonder how we can't comprehend a sacrifice for the war we are in now. I really liked this plaque.

We saw dad's hero, Ronald Reagan.
We found the plaque for one of the ships Grandpa Roy served on. The USS Monterey.

And we found a friend of Grandpa Irl's who dad even met one time. He served on a ship with Grandpa Irl, but the plaque is for another ship he spent time on. The Arisan Maru was a Japanese ship that was sunk by US Ships and was carrying over 1800 POW's to do slave labor in Japan. Of the POW's 9 survived and Grandpa Irl's friend Robert S. Overbeck was one of those 9.


We came home Friday night and Steve made us all Ukranian borscht. James was unsure, but being the great person he is, tried it with a brave face ;-) and then realized it wasn't as bad as he was expecting and actually said it was good. Yea Steve! That is a high compliment from James!

Everyone left except for me and Steve early Saturday morning. Kiersty, Seth and Megan headed for Tucson so that Megan could be dropped off, and then they made it all the way to about Kingman before finishing the rest of their journey back to Provo on Sunday. Mom, Dad and Brittany headed to Phoenix. Britt is spending the rest of her Christmas break at home before hitching a ride back to Provo.
We stayed for a few extra days so we could see the stuff we had missed earlier in the week.
It was a great week for us to all catch up, get to know each other againand remember how lucky we all are to have a great family.


Haha, that's the end of my modified post! Do you like how I even made it sound like I wrote it... really i just changed all of the pronouns! But I think you can see why I didn't have the will to write such a long post-- there was so much to write about! Anyways, I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year! We are leaving for SLC on tuesday for a week of snowboarding and hangin out with the Hale clan! Wahoo!

I have a life again!

So I know it's been a LONG time since I last posted, but life has been pretty insane since then! But I just finishes my last final today and I am so excited to be done! I only have one more round of undergrad finals until I have a degree! Wahoo! So just a little update on what we have been up to since our last post...

BYU vs. Air Force Game

Steve's family started a new tradition last year that is to go to an away BYU game every year. This year the only one everyone could go was in Denver, CO. We went up for the weekend and met all of the Hale family plus a whole bunch of cousins. Steve's cousin was so nice to let like 10 visitors stay at their home. We had a great time, short but so fun. BYU won, which was great, it kept everyone happy! It was the first time we had been cold in a long time, it felt great!

The Crew

Post Game Pictures


Thanksgiving

Steve and I had a fantastic Thanksgiving! My Aunt Becky and Uncle Kent hosted Thanksgiving up in Snowflake, AZ. We had a ton of family there and it was so much fun to be with everyone and see the family we don't typically get to see! We had lots of yummy food and good time with the fam. One night everyone gathered in the basement to play Rockband on the Wii. I was ok on the guitar, bad at the drums and worse at singing! I was like the worst singer ever! Steve did well on all instruments! I didn't take very many pictures while we were there, so sorry! The only unfortunate thing about Thanksgiving was we had to leave on Saturday because I had a lot of homework due the next week!

Lund Family- well part of it anyway

Since Thanksgiving our life has been crazy! The last two weeks of school were filled with test, paper, test, paper, project.... And during that time Steve had his first business school application due this past Monday. So in case you were wondering we were both studying and writing all the time... it was not that much fun! So now I am done with school for a month :) and we are both going to be working on grad school applications trying to get them in by the deadlines! The most exciting part about life right now is in a week we are drivng to Austin, TX to spend Christmas with my WHOLE family! And in like 3 weeks we are going to Salt Lake to spend time with Steve's family and snowboard! Woot Woot.