Holy Cow!

Wow it has been a while... okay here is a quick update. Sorry no time for pictures.

- I got a new nephew! my sis had her baby his name is boston and I havent seen him, but I love him
- Done with school for life!! Yes I graduate next week
-Got a new dog... tinkerbell. She is a cutie pie
- went to arizona for 2 weeks for work and in the next month I will be going to billings, utah, portland, utah and bend for work. which is really exciting that I am having an those opportunities.
-my home store is getting a new larger location in september!
-Gavin  is going to leadership academy, this means he is closer to getting his own buckle store!
- I am working on possibly attending buckle manager meetings in my position as a merchandiser which would be epic!
- my bday is next month and I am going to be 23 which blows my mind.
- my sister in law is going to be sealed the day before my 3 anniversary which I cannot wait for I am so excited for her!
- did I mention that I am done with school?!
Thats all for now. It is definately a busy and exciting time for us!

The Day of Love

Valentines Day was a really fun day this year. I had to work which was okay and Gavin had the day off so he could plan something fun for us. He picked me up from work with flowers in hand! I loved it, he was all dressed up and ready to go to dinner. This was the gift he got me this year.

This is the picture that was drawn of us when Gavin proposed to me 3 years ago! I loved it so much but could never really do anything with it until now. I love that he thought to frame it so we can hang it in our room and always remember that special day. I love him. And this is what I got him...

With a big box of chocolates of course. This whistle is actually really cool. The company that makes them is called Falling Whistles and all of the proceeds go to protect children in the kongo who are too little to carry weapons. These kids instead of carrying weapons are only armed with their whistles. Check out the movie online... http://www.fallingwhistles.com/media/peace-is-the-new-frontier/ After a great love story and chocolate, I must say one of the best V-days I've had.

Valentines Day 2011

Vday 2009

Who Will I Be Today?

Isn't it crazy to think about the effect we can have on a persons day? I realized that today as person after person brought me to tears. From school, finances, work and even the cafe, the effect that one person can have on another is tremendous. This made me think hard at work today as I worked frantically to get ready for different events, what kind of person am I? Am I also one that is added to a strangers list, or a reason they have a tear rolling down their face? Or am I the kind of person that can bring a smile to a persons face even though they are having a day like I did today? I hope I am that person. And if not, I will do my best from now on to send little gestures... even just a smile... to someone walking by me in the craziness of the mall to do my part.Who will you be today? As a wiseman once told me... be somebody's hero today.

Christmas Bracelet

Isnt this bracelet cute? My cute mother in law (Jill) made it for me for christmas and I love it so much I had to blog about it. I wore it to work and the girls were loving it, and especially that it was homemade! We also received a package from my mom and dad the other day with some work out goodies. Running shorts, and a GNC giftcard. Now I have no excuses to hit the gym for the next while. This week has been rough, it will get better though. I used to use the excuse that I was way too busy, but I know there are people way more busy than I am that manage to work out everyday. So... I can do it!

A few of our Resolutions

Our new year's eve was nice and relaxing. We took Diesel for a walk, took a nap played the move and had a night full of super unhealthy snacks. We got the move (wii for the playstation) for christmas from the Linsley's and I pretty much dominated Gavin in every game... poor guy.

Today was our first day back in the gym. I cant believe how long it has been but with the nice summer weather and then my craziest semester of school, I made up tons of excuses to not find time. I took a before picture, I didnt even consider posting it. They are only worth showing people when you have an after picture with it.

Here are a few resolutions I have for the new year:

Tawnya

1. Take better care of my body: eating, exercising, pampering.

2. go visiting teaching each month.

3. be consistant with family and personal scripture study, prayers, and family home evening

4. graduate from school

5. maybe consider participating in the lotoja this year

Gavin

1. Gain 20 lbs.

2. get more sleep

3. love my wife more

4. get my own store this year

5. not to forget about my talk on sunday.... straight from his mouth.

Diesel

1. dont eat any shoes

2. try to stop humping mom

3. stop waking dad up at 3 every morning

4. talk mom and dad into getting a little sister

5. control my slobber and shedding (mom always get mad... but i cant control it!)

So there ya go, a few things we want to do this year to improve ourselves to be better people. That is what this life is about after all isnt it? To grow and learn and to become more christlike each day, if only it was as easy as it sounds all of the time right.

Holy Moly! It's Been A While!

There wasn't much I could do last semester except study, homework and work. Now that I have finally been able to take a few days off and relax I can finally update my 2 readers on my life. I dont even know really where to begin. Well Gavin has quit his job and is now working with me at the Buckle and will be taking over his own store next year hopefully. They will be moving us to a different state, so we will see where heavenly father leads us. It is a lot of fun working with him, we dont go too crazy because we dont really work one on one a lot. He is on the sales floor and I do the visual work.

During Halloween, I had a cool opportunity to go and help open a brand new store in scottsdale, az at the scottsdale quarter store. It was amazing there I loved it so much. I also had the chance to get some dinner with a really old friend Hayley Evans who is amazing! She is down in mesa getting her masters, ya she is really smart. It was so good seeing her. Because I was gone out of town we didnt get to spend Halloween together. We did go to a play before I left called "Dracula". It filled us with all the scariness we needed to feel okay to be apart for Halloween.

Gavin and I have been so blessed to make the friends that we have up here. For thanksgiving we went to our friends house for brunch, Chris and Jamie, our good friends house for dinner, Cortney and Jason, and another friends house for dessert, The Vissors. I was in charge of making all of the plans and lets just say I am grounded from ever making plans again. Gavin was disappointed that we had such a busy holiday so he made our christmas plans.

We were able to go down to Utah at the beginning of December for my dad's surprise 50th birthday party. It was so much fun to surprise him! All the kids went to PF Changs for dinner and him and my mom showed up totally surprised! I love my dad so much it is so weird for me to see him growing older.

Christmas was nice and relaxing, just how we wanted it. Gavin made our plans... of course... and we went over to our really good friends Jason and Cortney's house. We had the most DELICIOUS food and hung out with great company all night. We went home and played with our new christmas toys.

Nothing too exciting is going on with us. We are both just working really hard in our jobs and me at school so we can have the success we want. Diesel is growing stronger and bigger everyday. He is trying harder to be a good boy and he is really wanting a little sister, no not a baby... a puppy. But we will see. Speaking of babies, my sister is expecting a boy so that is really exciting. She is due here in March and I cannot wait!

206 miles, 3 states, 1 day

LOTOJA 2011 was... adventurous. Dont get me wrong, it was a nice relaxing trip. We were able to find a great kenneling place for Diesel called the montana dog ranch in which he loved. I think he was even sad to come home from such a fun weekend. We were able to leave bright and early on Friday morning, with only one stop the whole way we made it to Logan just in time for Gavin to pick up his racing packets. From Logan, and a disappointing meal at our used to be favorite cafe rio, we headed for a spa day at Janiels salon, "gavins sister". We both got a great new hairdo and all nice to meet up with my parents at Brick Oven Pizza. It was so delicious and a good carb load for Gavin. I am so happy they were willing to come up and eat with us, I sure do miss them all the time.

When we were done with dinner, we headed back to the Linsley's for some quiet time, though it was crazy as ever. We were busy making food and water bottles and snacks and getting the boys all ready for their ride the next day. It was so nice to be there, I dont think I have laughed that much in a long time. Gaynard was constantly thinking of everything he might need to remind us of or teach us about with riding long races. Jill, Gavin and I could not help the smiles on our faces. Oh how we love Gaynard. After a restless night of sleep, we woke up bright and early for the race. We were up in Logan by 4:45 am getting tires pumped up and getting ready. Gavin was so anxious and excited, and I couldnt help but to have those feelings with him.

It was a hectic morning and it was at that point that I decided, "today, I am just going to go with the flow." man would I regret that statement. They boys took off, and so did we, we had to make it to preston, ID before the boys did with food and water.

It wasnt too long of a wait until the boys rode in. Gavin had a smile on his face and was feeling great. He was starting to get warm and took off his jacket and leggings. The poor guy also forgot to put on shammy butter.. but dont worry, he wasnt too shy to pull down his bibs and slap it on in front of the crowd. Jill and I were so embarrassed, when turning our heads we noticed gaynard doing the same thing!! Like father like son I guess. Well after some kisses and refueling, the boys were off again. this time we were to meet them in montpelier. This leg is longer, and a long drive for us as well. We pulled in and waited a longer this time. I was worried when Gavin wasnt coming in and wasnt coming in. Finally we see the guys come in.... but no Gavin. Gaynard told us how Gavin had to drop back because his knees were hurting him so bad. My heart sunk for him. He has had problems with his knees for a while now. He finally rolled in and was intantly swarmed with love and concern from family. I stood there and held his bike while his mom, sisters and cousin nurtured him to keep going. I stood there, helpless wondering and hoping that he would keep going. He looked up at me in pain and asked me what I though. I said to him, well you are already in pain, you mind as well keep going. He was frustrated with my remark, but understood what I meant. Jeremy filled him with pain killers, rubbed his knees with her secret oils and he was still not feeling well. He rested for a minute and we chatted. He knew how bad I wanted him to keep going... so he jumped on his bike.

The next leg is one of the hardest ones. It is called King of the Mountain. You climb like 1300 ft in 10 miles or something crazy like that. I knew it would kill Gavin. I jumped in my car and instantly felt sick. Halfway up the "king of the mountain" was a shop with a bathroom and had to pull over. I finally felt okay enough to head up the mountain more. All the girls pulled over on a lookout point to watch the guys and later on Gavin ride by. I jumped out of the car with more medicine to give to gavin, and he shook it off as he rode by. I was so worried about him all I could do was cry! He had worked so hard for this race and wants to finish so bad... will his knees really keep him from finishing??

Jen, the sweetheart that she is, saw my teary eyes and decided to drive while I rested. As we walked over to my car, she asked for my keys. I checked my pockets frantically and my heart sunk! I LOCKED MY KEYS IN MY CAR! Not only that but we were literally in the middle of no where. After searching frantically for a slim jim, finding one and it not working, we were desperate. We sat in Jill's car while she went ahead with the others trying to figure out a plan. The only locksmith that was willing to come to our rescue was 1 hour and 15 minutes away. So we decided to accept and wait. We chatted, and cried and laughed and told stories. It was so much fun hanging out with her, I miss having family close like that. Dan the locksmith came to our rescue. Once I got in my car, I followed Jen and we punched it to 90 mph! We had to make it to the finish line, that is if Gavin even kept going. The moment I had service I called Jill and she told me Gavin was doing GREAT!! He was smiling and happy and doing well, he was going to FINISH the race!! We raced to Teton Village as fast as my Yaris could go and in passing gavin I couldnt help but scream out the window to him to Keep Going! He finally crossed the finish line with tears in his eyes of relief and emotion at 13 hours and 38 minutes!

I dont have any pictures of the middle of the race as you can see, because I didnt get to see any of it. But I am so proud of Gavin. It takes a lot of dicipline and courage to fight through pain like he did, and he is so strong for doing so. Next year he wants me to ride some of it with him... we will see :)