GIVING THANKS

my life is good. i feel there are many, many reasons to be grateful this holiday season. let me start out with a few trivial things. (trivial but still oh so fabulous)

• thanks to anthropology. not only for producing such amazing clothes, shoes, accessories and furniture, but for giving my family the friends and family discount (thanks to chels mainly for that one!!) i am getting the following items for christmas and i couldn't be happier about it.

• thanks to the producer of the movie "Coco Before Chanel". honestly this movie is amazing. i dare say i enjoyed it more than New Moon. don't be a hater.

• thank you to the state of california for the beautiful island of coronado. we will be visiting all weekend with my parents, sisters and the matts. i can't wait. this place is like a second home to us. now that's something to be grateful for!
  

• lastly and most important, i'm thankful for all my friends and family. without you, these things i've listed above would not be as wonderful as they are. i wouldn't enjoy shopping, traveling and seeing movies if i didn't have you all to share it with. can't wait for the fun times ahead of us! and the yummy food i will devour tomorrow.

Zack the Zit

my day has been ruined by this little bugger. oh yeah, that's the one right under my nose. he's hard to miss. it's not fair to say today only was ruined when i've been dealing with him all weekend. tyler actually named him last night and tagged him as a "he". just in case you were wondering, zits are male apparently. this bump appeared on my face days ago and of course i couldn't leave it alone. so i picked and picked at it and then just picked a little more to make sure i had gotten it good, and this is what it's turned into. i wish so badly my adult achne would one day go away. (and it's a lot worse looking than it appears in this picture. i do have some close ups of it, but my self-esteem is just not good enough to post those.)

this is my best, "i'm ticked" face. pretty good huh!?

Weekend Recap.....

Friday was our anniversary. Congrats to us! We've made it past the first year. It was a great one and it went by super fast. Ty did an amazing job and surprised me with a night at Stein Eriksen Lodge and dinner at Riverhorse. That place is amazing. If you haven't been there before.......go. You won't regret it!

Highlights from this year -

*Buying our first home
*Humanitarian trip to the Dominican Republic
*Crown Council's Annual Event in Las Vegas (seriously thank heavens I have the best job in the world!)
*Establishing our day to day routine. I love working all day knowing that in the evening we'll both come home, excited to see each other.
*Flight School
*All the firsts as a married couple - holidays, our ward (which we couldn't love more), family vacations, making new couple friends, etc.

Sheesh, how lucky am I?!

Saturday night we went on a Ghost Tour with a fabulous group of people! It was a great time........mainly because Matt Lloyd came along and made it entertaining for all of us. Best quote of the night "I have orbs, tons of them!" - Matt Lloyd. It's a great Halloween activity if anyone is looking for one. The Salt Lake tour is better than the Ogden tour oddly enough. That wasn't meant to be mean. I love O town.

And after a great weekend I was dreading another long work week, but I chatted with Chels for a few minutes this afternoon and it turned my whole day around! Man I miss that girl! Love you Chels. You too Wy and Tate. I stole this picture from their blog. What!? Could there be a more beautiful family on the earth? I think not. Can't wait for Christmas when you'll be back home with us! Now i just need to chat with Maddie to make my week complete! No more family move away. It's too hard!

Flight School

i've been thinking a lot about this new adventure we've embarked on. ty is in full swing studying hard every night, waking up (before me might i add which is something i never thought would happen) getting to school by 7, rushing to work after school to get in a few good hours.......and then doing it all over again. i just have to sit back in awe some days as i witness his hard work and dedication. he's nonstop every moment of everyday. i'm grateful for the future that lies ahead of us.

and then i think about nienie. if you don't know who she is check out her blog and read her story. it brings me to tears every time i stumble upon it. she's going to be on oprah today and share her story. i've been excited to watch it, until i realized how much it scares me. she is burned on 80% (i believe) of her body from a near fatal plane crash. her husband was also in the plane, but came out in a lot better condition than she did.

sometimes i wonder if i'm crazy to be supporting this dream of tylers. what would i do if i lost him? i can't even allow myself to think those thoughts. they hurt my progression. i'm proud of him for going after what he's always wanted. i'm proud of him for getting in that plane and taking a risk everyday to pursue what he loves most. i proud of myself for not having a nervous breakdown from worry and fear. because i do worry, a lot. but i pray and pray some more and then go about my day knowing that his life and mine are in the hands of our Heavenly Fathers. that's all i can do. in God we trust.

Celebrating Pat's Life

Happy Birthday Pattie!! I sure love you!

The definition of Pat - a women with the always impeccable outfit, sitting peacefully with her ensign or scriptures while the grandkids run recklessly around her or on top of her as she lovingly plays with them and gives fully of her time and self to them.

She never raises her voice or gets upset. Can you imagine growing up with this kind of mother?! Well let me tell you what it was like - - HEAVEN! Pat, you are the glue that holds this family together. We all crave to be in your presence. Thank you for being the kind of mother and woman i'll forever strive to be.

Bon Voyage Cranes

this weekend kind of sucked. i'm not going to lie. having to say goodbye to maddie and matt has been harder than i ever imagined. i love these two! they are such an intricate part of our family i think we're all dreading life in salt lake without them.
matt - we are so lucky to have you in the horsley family. i love how never ever once can you be serious about anything, therefore it's very difficult to believe anything you say. we'll miss your witty personality! take care of maddie!

maddie - i'll miss your sense of humor as well as your kind heart! you've kept us laughing throughout the years........and i'm sure will continue to do so. you embody every sense of the word 'classy'. you are graceful and beautiful in all you do. you will always be one of my best friends and no matter where we live, that will never change. i just adore you. i guess i'm lucky that i haven't lived in the same city as you for sometime now because that would make this move that much harder. i will miss you dearly.

thankfully i'll be seeing you in a few weeks! don't know how i'd be handling this if i didn't have that to look forward to. safe travels!

Goodbye Brother Brigham

this is my husband. i like to call him brother brigham. i'm sure you can all see the resemblance. i got home last night from YW's to an empty house, no husband around. couldn't get ahold of him and started to suspect something was going on.

he suprised me with this.........

i'm not trying to be hateful, but i'm not super sad to see brother brigham go. love the short hair ty. your hairstylist is extremely talented. thanks samanth and jas.

Depeche Mode

you betcha we went to Depeche Mode and tyler had the time of his life. they are his favorite band and he couldn't contain his excitement. my enjoyment of the night came from watching him dance, sing, jump around, bob his head......you name it and he did it. couldn't sit still for 2 hours straight. plus we go to hang out with 2 of our favorite people. love you dana and ben!!

the lead singer Dave Gahan (that's right ty, i pay attention) had some serious dance moves. i couldn't contain my laughter - in the most respectful way of course. now i see where ty got his moves.

and happy birthday rachel

here we all are celebrating at Mikados. love these girls. too bad we had to cut lunch so short. i have to tell rach that even though i call her names and tease her relentlessly, she better know in my heart i admire everything about her and desire to someday be the kind of woman she is. oh how i love my crochita. (i wasn't going to mention the nickname but half the people in my life only know her as that.) sorry scrapes.

Market Street Goodbye

wyatt and chelsea are leaving on friday for med school on the wonderful island of Dominica. what adventures await them. far less fashionable clothes that are necessary because of the climate, no car to drive around and a lot of walking (which i love!), beautiful beaches on a beautiful island, a cute little rental home, furniture that is not anywhere near their taste, unfamiliar food in the grocery stores, looking forward to subway and kentucky fried chicken as the only american restuarants on the island, and much much more! i sort of made that all sound bad which was not my intention at all. like i said "an adventure awaits"! we had one final dinner with the entire horsley bunch. pretty soon we loose maddie and matt as well. our family's "too good to be true years" are ending with everyone living within an hour of each other. sad days ahead. oh how i'm going to miss them all! i had to post pictures from last night. not because i have some many great ones, but because matt crane somehow managed to make his way into 80% of them. so here is a tribute going out to matt.......your goofy faces have finally got you noticed!

the tush picture

A couple that he didn't make it in, but are still keepers.

all the girls - what a great bunch. apparently my older sisters are quite a bit shorter than me. something i always knew but is very apparent when i'm standing in the middle of them.

and one final mosaic. my friend jeanette soffe took amazing pictures of my little dance group. here are a few of them. embarrassing that the only one that would fit in the larger slot is a single picture of me. she's amazing and so fun to work with! so if anyone needs a photographer, come talk to me!

For the boy, on his birthday

my sweet husband is turning 31 tomorrow and i wanted to express my love for him in the most public manner i can think of. here are 31 reasons why i love him

1. All the random facts floating around in that head
2. Your ability to make me laugh everyday
3. Your smile and eyes
4. Your drive to accomplish your dreams
5. Your love of everything that is manly and macho
6. Your attention to detail
7. Your ability to make anyone around you comfortable in any situation
8. The way you always find an opportunity to meet someone new and talk to a complete stranger
9. Your obsession with your hair...........please refer to the mosaic below
10. Your world famous french toast
11. Your ability to fix anything
12. Your desire to serve and take care of your friends, family and anybody in need
13. Your love for the gospel and dedication to your sunday school class
14. Your desire to listen and understand me even in my irrationality
15. Your love for the world and all God’s creations
16. Your love of adventure and travel
17. Your looks.........I think you’re the most handsome guy on the planet
18. Your brain - it is so full of information about everything and anything. You pretty much know it all. Luckily our kids will have one intelligent parent to help with homework and teach them cool stuff
19. Your dancing abilities - favorite memory of this was our first date.....thought you were a little weird, not going to lie
20. Your perspective on life.......you always help me to see the positive in every situation
21. Your contagious laugh that honestly scared me the first time I heard it
22. Your desire to help around the house, clean up after every meal and especially clean the bathrooms and vacuum because you know i don't enjoy doing those things
23. Your obsession with anything that has an engine
24. The way you’ve befriended my friends and made them your own best friends
25. Your love for your parents and constant concern for their well-being
26. The love you have for my family! Never did I imagine marrying someone who would embrace my family the way you have
27. Your secret love and adoration for Rolfie (only secret to him because he’s oblivious much of the time)
28. Your love for children. You are at complete ease around them - you will be the most incredible father........so let’s make babies :) Just kidding, don’t freak out
29. The things you say to me on a daily basis that melt my heart. I know you’d do anything in the world to make me happy
30. Your support in everything I do in my life and participate in. I can always count on you to be right by my side through it all
31. The fact that it took me 5 minutes to write this and I even had to cut things out

in deep respect, reverence and honor for your head of hair and "the stuche" i have created this mosaic

thank heavens i married the worlds biggest nerd. what would i do without the laughter you bring into my life everyday? i love you ty guy. happy birthday!