I'm officially an old woman

I have been alive 22 years.... holy crap that sounds SO OLD!  Ryan makes it a point to make me feel like an old lady with comments of how I robbed the cradle, and how he is my trophy husband.... (For the record:  I am only 3 months older than him, so stop flattering yourself hubby haha)  He made up for making me feel like a geizer by SPOILING me on my birthday.  He woke up early on Saturday morning and watched the dog so I could sleep in.  I woke up to chocolate chip pancakes (my FAVE!) his fabulous scrambled eggs, and a dozen roses.  He even cleaned our disastrous kitchen too.  Then we laid around all day, and then headed to Gateway that afternoon, where we went SHOPPING! Which had to have been a serious sacrifice for him....because we all know how much Ryan loooovesss shopping with me (hah).  After our lovely shopping experience we ate at Happy Sumo...mmmmmm....and.... he even ordered sushi for us to share.  I DEFINITELY need to have more birthdays.....sushi and shopping?? WHOA! After a delicious dinner, we went to his Aunt Karla's house where we celebrated December birthdays.  After that, we headed to the movies.  It was a great day.  Thanks so much for a great birthday hubby!!!

I finally recovered from my turkey hangover...

 For thanksgiving this year, Ryan and I drove to Colorado to hang out with my familia in Parker.  The weather was great for driving, and courtesy of Page Brake, we got to leave a day earlier than originally planned, and work along the way, which made for a 14 hour drive but with half our gas paid for, woo woo! Our road trips are always pretty fun and eventful, so thankfully 14 hours did NOT kill us, or Juneau, who was AWESOME in the truck the whole way. 

When we finally got there, we were greeted by my excited family, and the ever-excited Paco the chiuaua.  We weren't sure exactly what to expect with Juneau and Paco.  She's never had any other doggie friends, and I was sure Paco would be attacking her and violating her the whole time, but those two actually got along GREAT!  It was sooooo funny to watch them chasing each other full speed around the house, or wrestling like crazy in the family room.  Juneau was like half that fat chiuaua's weight, but she could hold her own pretty well.  Everyone loved Juneau.  My mom put up with her getting sick and making messes, Kendall constantly wanted Juneau to snuggle her and would insist "Stop struggling Juneau! Its so much easier if you don't struggle", Dylan loved holding Juneau prisoner, and by the end of the first hour she pretty much followed Paco's lead and steered clear of him.  Kade kept insisting to everyone that Paco was just as cool as Juneau, and they should love him too because he is their dog. Hahaha ohhhh kade. 

The week was pretty much uneventful and relaxing,which was exactly what we needed!  We pretty much just hung around the house not doing much.  Wednesday we met at my dad's work for lunch, and then I dragged Kendall and Ryan to Park Meadows Mall for an unsuccessful shopping trip.  Then it was home and back to lounging.  Thursday the boys went and played in the turkey bowl (thankfully my dad and Ryan were on the same team this time so smack talk and competition was limited).  After they got back, there was more doing nothing and hanging out til dinner time.  My parents made two turkeys, my dad smoked one and my mom cooked the other in the oven.  As she was walking to the table announcing "We have stuffing, we have rolls, we have turkey...", the turkey plate slipped out of her hands and shattered on the ground in an explosion of glass and deliciously cooked meat.  I felt so bad, she had worked so hard on that turkey all day, but luckily we still had the other turkey, plus a ton of other good food. 

Thanksgiving dinner was super yummy of course.  We had the unfallen turkey, some rainbow jello (lovingly called gay pride jello by Cameron Taylor haha) some stuffing, corn casserole, rolls, yams, a few more things and most importantly, TONS of dessert.  After stuffing myself to the point of near paralysis, we laid around the rest of the night and watched the biggest loser (how appropriate) and I fell asleep at approximately 8 PM.

The next day = black friday, which was pretty much the same, filled with laziness and laying around, minus the 5 AM shopping extravangza I talked my mom and sister into participating with me.  We hit up Targay and JoAnns fabric store, which was full of a thousand crafty ladies clawing eachother for the best fabric deals, so THAT was fun.... after barely escaping with our lives and the 50 yards of fabric my mom bought, it was back to bed for me.  Ryan and the boys went and played basketball all morning.  Amazingly enough, we escaped our normal holiday tradition of broken body parts.  I did try to work off some of the 18,000 calories I had eaten the night before on the family trampoline.  We played keep away with a football over the trampoline, which ended with Juneau getting a football to the face (thanks, Kendall.)   Friday night I coerced Ryan into seeing New Moon with me (I'm not sure if he has forgiven me yet)  but what a good hubby he is :)  then Saturday, we hung out (suprise, suprise) and then celebrated my birfday saturday night.  My mom got me some cute christmas decorations since we have zero, and a nordstrom gift card WHOOO!  I made homemade oreos and ate them til I couldn't move.  So overall, an awesome night. 

Sunday, it was homeward bound for us.  After all the comotion and chaos that Dylan and Kade bring, it was nice to be home in our own quiet house.  It was great to get home for a week and see everyone.  I already miss them like crazy!  What a great Thanksgiving week!

Our Wedding Story

So I saw this on someone's blog and I thought it was cute.... plus I am BEYOND bored at work and just wanting to go home and start the weekend.... so hopefully it will help pass the time!

1) When did you get married?  September 26, 2009 :)
2) Was this your first marriage?  Yes, I'm planning on getting it right the first time haha
3) How long were you and your significant other together before getting married?  Our first date was the beginning of Septmeber 2008, so about a year.  I'm in Provo, but not of Provo when it comes to dating...
4) How did you meet your significant other?  We got set up by a girl I worked with....sometimes we look back and laugh that SHE of all people was the one to set us up.
5) How did your engagement happen?  I went with my family to Myrtle Beach, North Carolina, and Ryan flew out for the last few days of the trip.  On the last night we were there we went on a bike ride to my self proclaimed favorite spot in the world, and he pulled out a list of the things he loved about me (which totally made me cry!) and then popped the question.  And, lucky for him, I said yes ;)
6) Did he ask your parents permission?  Yes.  My dad totally knew it was coming too.  While we were fixing dinner, Ryan went down to talk to my dad who was BBQing hamburgers and after an awkard conversation about fixing hamburgers for 10 mintues, my dad finally said "So you and Samantha seem to be getting along good....", finally giving Ryan the transition he needed to get the ball rolling.
7) Was the ring a suprise?  Who picked it out?  We went ring shopping a few times, and me, being the picky person that I am, pretty much told Ryan that I liked every single one I saw.  Soooo....he pretty much got to choose.  And he picked out the perfect ring that I absolutely loved.
8) Where did your wedding ceremony/reception take place?  We got married in the Timpanogus Temple in Utah, and we had a reception at a place called Wadley Historic Farms in Lindon, Utah and then one two weeks later at my house in Parker, Colorado.
9) What were your wedding colors?  Our colors were purple and silver. 
10) What was the weather like on your big day?  On our wedding day the weather was GORGEOUS and couldn't have been better, which was perfect because our reception was supposed to be mostly outside.  At the open house in Colorado a few weeks later though, it was like 13 degrees and freezing!
11) Where did you go for pictures?  Our engagement pictures were taken at the great salt lake (which was the grossest place ever with swarms of bugs and the sickest smell ever), and then I took bridals at this 93 year-old ladies garden, which was gorgeous.  Our wedding pictures were taken at the Timpanogus Temple, and around Wadley Farms.  Kristy Cefalo (my old roomate Courtney's sister) took our pictures and she is AWESOME! Let me know if you need a wedding photographer I totally recommend her!
12) Did you either of you get drunk?  Haha nooope
13) What was your wedding song?  "Then" by Brad Praisley.  My mom was a tad mortified that we were playing country music at the wedding, but it was cute and cheesy like a good wedding song should be :)
14) What was your wedding favor/gift?  Ummmm...I think we missed the memo that we should have had one of those?  Everyone got to take bags full of purple and silver candy, I hope that counts
15) Did you smash the cake?  Yep.  Right in Ryan's face.  He got me back by shoving it up my nose though..
16) Wedding night?  Was awesome!?  Haha we stayed at the Radisson in Salt Lake City for their free transporationn to the airport for when we flew out the next day
17) Favorite part of your wedding day?  Seeing all our friends and family, meeting all Ryan's friends, all the attention and presents, and being married to Ryan for time and all eternity was good too :)
18) Least favorite part?  How bad my feet hurt from standing all day, how bad my face hurt from smiling, and being starving the whole day.
19) Would you do it all again?  Me and Ryan have talked about having another wedding (to eachother) in a few years just to get all those presents again ;) hahaha.  Just kidding.  I don't think Ryan could survive another wedding day...
20) Where did you go on your honeymoon?  We went on a cruise to the Mexican Riveria.  We stopped in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas.  It was an AMAZING week.  More pictures and details on that soon hopefully!

My New Goal

So, yesterday I had an epiphany.  This epiphany occured in the late hours of the night as I sat next to my sleeping husband wondering what to do with myself .  I've always been a night person; I hate the morning.  Waking up, getting out of my comfy bed, getting ready.... everything about it just makes me want to stay up later to avoid it for longer.  However, I decided that this needs to change.  There is so much that I could get done in the morning if I actually woke up more than 15 minutes before I need to leave for work. So- this is my new goal.  Ryan is way better at the whole morning thing than me and is up and out the door by 7 AM, and therefore is way better at the whole going to bed at a decent hour thing.  I need to get better at it too. That way, I can be productive in the morning, and not be bored when he goes to bed at night. I'm going to start getting up early everyday, and getting the things I should do everyday done.  I'll have way more time to go running, read my scriptures, pick up the house....  Maybe this will even help me like the mornings more.  It'll also be a nice ease into next semester when I am forced to start waking up at the butt crack of dawn to be to class at 8 o'clock...ohhh man.  Yep.  Tomorrow I'm gonna start being a morning person.  It would have started today but I was discouraged by the fact that we didn't have any milk for the cereal I was going to jump start my day with....  so tomrrow, my goal is being put into action, starting with honey bunches of oats.  Whoo!

Halloweeeeeen!

So, um, what the heck are child-less married folks supposed to do on halloween?   I found myself pondering this question as October 31st rapidly approached.  We talked about throwing a halloween party back at a pumpkin carving party with Ryan's friends, but due to our lack of party planning skills, it didn't look like it was going to happen.  Until Wednesday, two days before the blessed event was to take place.  Thanks to one of Ryans friends, Miranda, who helped think of some fun ideas and round up the troops to come, the party was back in action. 

One of the perks of deciding to throw a party at our house is that it actually forced Ryan and I to start putting our house together.  This has been a daunting task that I have been mostly avoiding for the past month.  However, thursday night we finally hung some pictures, removed the Muhammad Ali poster that Ryan had previously decorated our fireplace with, and started organizing stuff in our two "rooms of death" where we have been shoving stuff that was piling up elsewhere. 

Friday I got to stay home from work and experience the whole house wife experience for the first time as I cleaned and organized our house.  What a day....I think I would rather have been at work (which is saying a lot... There are not many things I would choose work over...)  Everything that could have gone wrong, definitely did.  Don't believe me?  Here's a list

• The dog, who I love most days, was a monster, and was either peeing on the floor or biting my ankles as I was trying to clean. 
• Right after I finished cleaning the kitchen floor and counters, I went to make the kitchen more festive and plug in some halloween decorations....which blew a fuse.
• While moving the crockpot full of yummy pulled pork to a different plug because I couldn't find the fuse box, I knocked over and broke our cute little Scentry candle warmer, full of delicious smelling wax, which was not so delicious smelling on my freshly cleaned counter and floors.  Dog pee was now second to wax on my list of least favorite things to clean up that day.
• Finally, the house was clean and it was on to errands.  I ran to Hollywood video, found the movie we were going to watch that night, only to realize that I didn't have my wallet....  which as it turns out was in Ryan's truck at Ryan's work a half hour away...
• I put the video on hold at hollywood video and decided to run over to Ryan's work and get it.  On the way I realized that in the midst of all the wax and pee cleaning up, I hadn't had time to eat all day and I was starving.  I decided a spicy chicken sandwhich at Mcdonalds would hit the spot. It wasn't til after ordering and halway through the line at the drive thru, I remembered that they require money to get your food, and all mine was still in my wallet in Ryan's truck.  Doh.
• Finally, after getting my wallet, I returned to Hollywood video to pick up the DVD, which as it turns out, had somehow been rented in the past hour.  Thanks a lot, hollywood video.
• Last on the errands run was Walmart, which I thought went without a hitch, til Ryan called when I was on my way home, and I realized that I had forgotten to get buns.  So it was back to Walmart for me.
• Because my hunger had not been helped by Mcdonalds, I got a little bag of Cheetos at Walmart to snack on on the way home.  As it turns out, Juneau loves cheetos.  And her jumping at me and trying to eat them makes driving a tiny bit difficult.  Luckily we made it home in safety, although because of the road hazard the cheetos became, still hungry. 

By this time, I was ready for the work to end and the fun to begin.  And I'm so glad I have a sweet husband who came home and knew just how to make my day better :) The party turned out fun too.  We had lots of yummy food, costumes, friends, and fun games (including the how long can Mike go without exaggerating game?  Which he lost every time....) Ryan and I dressed up like cowboys, and Juneau dressed up as a football quarter bark (hahaha gotta love walmart dog costumes!) After the festivities we watched What Lies Beneath (which I ended up buying by the way, grrrrr hollywood video) and I remembered how much I hate that movie.  Overall I think the party was a success! 

Juneau in her little Quarter Bark jersey. Sorry all the pictures on this blog are of my dog.  More of people coming soon....

Saturday, which was actually Halloween, we decided to just forget about Halloween all together.  We went running, then Ryan went golfing while I went shopping at Disneyland aka Nordstrom Rack (for the first time in like two months, whooooo I'm doing so good!) and then we went and saw a movie that night.  We got home to a fully lit house (whoops, we forgot to turn off the porchlights, and probably tricked half the children in our kid infested neighborhood) watched some Dexter, then went to sleep.  Happy Halloween!

A whole month of married!

I can't belive we've been married a whole month already!! Not that amonth is really that long, but I mostly am just amazed at how fast the time has gone!  It seems like just yesterday was September 26, but now October is almost over and its almost thanksgving, my BIRTHDAY!, christmas, and school time (boo). 

Being married has been a lot of fun.  Its been really busy and I feel like we still have so much to do before we're completely settled into our home and married life.  I've started cleaning and organizing our house, but no matter how much I get done, there is always tons more to do!  The we still have two rooms that are packed with boxes and crap piled to the ceiling. And there is that looming project of thank you cards that I'm avoiding thinking about.....

This last month has been way busy, but we've managed to pack some fun into there too.  Lately we've been

• watching A LOT of football: Ryan has gotten me more into football (thank goodness, because we watch a lot of it)  He has a man crush on Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots, while I'm a Broncos fan through and through (who are 6-0 by the way...) Ask him who won the Broncos v Patriots game, and who had to cook me dinner for a week :)
• Family Night:  Ryans friends Matt and Jeff join us for our weekly Family Home Evening aka Monday Night Football.  Jeff and I make the games more interesting by getting a little money involved.  Tonight I have ten bucks on the Eagles.  We'll see what happens.  (I'll win.)
• Haunted houses and scary movies:  In light of Halloween, last friday we went to the nightmare on 13th, which is supposedly the scariest haunted house in utah, and one of the scariest in the US.  It wasn't that scary, they mostly make you jump when the creepy workers with bad breath jump out at you, but it was still way fun.  After we watched a scary movie with a bunch of friends at our house with our new sound system (which we got as an AWESOME wedding present)
• Date nights and seeing movies: On our first official date as a married couple, we went to costa vida and then to see a movie called Zombieland, which we both thought was HILARIOUS.  I was pleasantly suprised at how much I laughed at this movie.  We also went and saw the scariest movie EVER and I kept freaking myself out the whole night after the movie.
• Playing with our puppy:  Juneau has been a fun addition to our house.  She is hilarious and entertaining, and also sneaky and mischievious.  I love her to death, except when she cries and I have to take her outside in the middle of the freezing night.  The closest thing Ryan and I have ever had to a fight is sleeptalking in the middle of the night about who gets to get up and take the dog out.  Apparently we both aren't very nice in our sleep haha. 
• Checking out the new ward:  which.....is full of babies.  Like, tons of them.  I forgot what it was like to go to church with a bunch of little kids til the sacrament prayer, which is pretty much cue for all ten thousand of them to start crying.  Our new ward seems pretty nice, everyone is friendly and welcoming, we are definitely the youngest, child-lest couple there, so it cuold be interesting...
• Just hanging out:  Hanging out at home with my hubby is my favorite.  Although, due to the fact that hanging out at home is generally accompanied by food, I think its making me fat.  We definitely need to start up crossfit again.  Too bad the closest gym is like a half hour from home....

What a great month, married life is great!  I love my hubby! Xoxo

Puppy love!!

On October 14, 2009 a new member joined the Memmott family!  We got a little miniature american eskimo puppy who is just to DIE FOR.  She is sooo dang cute.  After many times of telling Ryan he had the choice between a puppy or a baby (which is definitely an empty threat because I am far from being ready for a baby...I knew which one he would choose though haha) he finally gave in and said we could get a dog for my birthday.  However, yesterday (during my oh-so-productive work hours) he kept asking what kind of dog I would want, and so I started looking on KSL for puppies for sale.   Ryan and I originally wanted a massive, huge slobbery horse of a dog, but seeing as our backyard and house isn't equipped to support such a beast, we decided to start off a little smaller.  Ryan sent me an ad for litte cottonball-ish puppies that were just the cutest things I had ever seen.  I called the lady right away and set up a time to go look at them, thinking in my head that it wasn't my birthday yet, and we would just look....that is, until we actually saw them.  Right then plans changed drastically, and seeing Ryan cuddle that little fluffy thing made just looking out of the question.  We ended up buying her right then and coming home with a puppy that night!

Naming her proved a difficult task.  Snowball, fluffy, cottonball and sugarpuff seemed properly descriptive yet too generic, so we started going down the product path with names like Downy or Charmin (I personally liked Charmin, after the super soft toilet paper hahaha), but none of those names seemed right either.  Finally, since she is a little eskimo, Ryan started brainstorming Alaskan things and suggested Juneau.  It stuck right away and I think its the perfect name.  Here's some pictures of Juneau in all her cuteness :)

She's just a baby and has spent most of her time sleeping so far.  Last night everything was kind of new and freaking her out, and she would always try to find something to hide under (like the pillows on our bed).  Today she is much more energetic and hilarious.  She loves her little box and always wants to be in there to sleep.  Its funny to watch her try to climb in there by herself.   

Ryan and Samantha sittin' in a tree....

...K-I-S-S-I-N-G!  First comes love, then comes marriage! (We'll leave out the rest of that song for a while, a LONG while haha) But as of September 26, 2009 Ryan Joel Memmott and I are officially a married couple!  I still haven't gotten used to the fact that I am now Samantha Memmott, or that I live with a boy, or that I have a whole new set of siblings and neices and nephews and in-laws!  It all still kind of seems surreal.  But its been so great so far!  Our wedding day was BEAUTIFUL, and everything went on without a hitch.  We got married in the timpanogus temple at 10 AM, and right after we headed straight to the reception, which was from 12:30 to 2:30 at this place in Lindon called Wadley Farms, which was absolutely adorable.  Luckily the weather was perfect, and we got to have most of the reception outside.  After taking eleventy billion pictures, and  after Ryan finally refused smile or act lovey dovey in front of the camera any more, the reception festivities began.  We had a line and greeted tons of people who I didn't know and lots that I did.  It was awesome to see friends and family who came from far away, and also to meet all Ryan's friends and blasts from the past, and finally put faces with names.  My best friends from high school, Jamie and Brittney came with their husbands, and it was super fun to be reunited with the 3 musketeers, and all be old and married!  My BFF Tanisha came from Washington DC to be one of my bridesmaids, and it was so fun to see her for the first time since her wedding in June.  Tons of family came, like my cousin Jeff who was my best buddy while he was in Provo, and all my other awesome cousins.  It was so great seeing everyone, even though in all the hustle and bustle of the day I feel like I didn't get to talk to everyone for long enough! The reception flew by, and then it was off to Salt Lake City to start the honeymoon!  More on that later, here are some pictures that were highlights of the day :)

Just outside of the Timpangous temple...now Ryan and Samantha Memmott!  (Ryan was still cooperating for pictures at this point haha)


Happy, happy, happy!

Our wedding party!  From left:  Jeff Rasmussen, Tanisha Groberg, Devan Antczak, Mr. and Mrs. Memmott, Amanda Memmott, Matt Klekas, and Kendall Waite.  What a good lookin bunch!

 My mom and dad.  Presh. 












Our awesome wedding cake which I have yet to really taste....







Our first dance as a married couple.  And, crazily enough, our first dance EVER!








I'm not sure what was so funny.....I'm thinking it mighta been the Spanx. 






Not sure how the heck to cut the cake properly....






Yes, he did in fact shove cake in my face and up my nose.  Don't worry, I got him back good.

Marriage means you have to start blogging.....

Yes, its true! As of September 26, 2009 I am officially a MARRIED WOMAN! Although being married has been AWESOME so far, it is also bringing me to do some things that I never thought I would have a desire to do. Namely, making a blog.  I am guilty of previously laughing at the idea blogging, slash swearing I would never have one.... HOWEVER, I'm married now, and so therefore my life is more exciting and worthy of others reading about.  And according to my hubby, "married blogs are way less gay than single blogs" so there's a reason to start one right there!  So here's a blog to keep you filled in on all the exciting happenings in the Memmott household!