Happy Halloween!

Today is Halloween and I totally love it! The weather is perfect and the atmosphere is even better. Luckily my boss (aka Dad) let me take the morning off so that I could catch Chandler's Halloween parade. He's such a nice boss...Sadly this is Chandler's last year in elementary school and his very last Halloween parade :( I'm still not sure what's happened to him, I thought Chan was supposed to stay little forever. I don't like it at all!

My mom was in charge of helping with all of the 6th grade activities so she had me stay to assist with the picture taking. I had a blast watching and reminiscing about what it was like to be in elementary school...and especially 6th grade. What a hoot. 6th grade is the year where boys start to talk to girls and be friends with them...I'll be honest and admit that my mom and I did a little investigating on who Miss Annie is.... Pretty sure he has a big crush on Annie.

Anyhow, This week has been a little nutso but that's another story for another day. In the spirit of Halloween, Eric and I went to our ward's Halloween party which was great. I didn't even have to coerce Eric into dressing up or give him hourly pep talks all day this year....major progress! I think he actually likes dressing up now. It also helped that Bishop threatened us last week in ward council that we'd better be dressed up. Either way, we had fun and it was nice to have the costumes on hand for some of our other Halloween parties.

We decided to be a Cowboy and Indian this year. For those that don't know, I'm pretty sure when Eric retires we will be moving to a large ranch somewhere so that he can fulfill his dream of being a real cowboy. Either that or he just wants an excuse to have a gun...hmm.... Luckily I come from a strong line of real cowboys so we called up my Grandpa to see if we could borrow some of his attire. No surprise we had success there! I'm just not sure Eric will want to give it back :)

I feel terrible for even posting this but I thought it was hilarious. We stopped by my parents house on our way to our friends Halloween party Halloween night to see Chandler before he headed out to trick-or-treat. It just so happened that Sam was also on her way to a party and had thrown together a last minute costume...she was a Mexican.

This is the part where I hope no one gets offended but we couldn't help it!

Here is Sam attempting to cross the border but is caught by the border patrol :) I know, its so terrible but just for the record; we aren't that racist!

HAPPY HALLOWS EVE!!!

Happy Pinning!

Today I discovered Pintrest. I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or a terrible thing yet...considering I ended up wasting every second of my "down time" at work on Pintrest instead of doing my homework. Terrible! I knew this would happen. But I am in love! I feel motivated and inspired with so many new ideas! How could this be a bad thing? I'm still clueless as to how do to most of it but here are a few of the things/photos I discovered:


Makes me want to take a Sunday nap



Texture at it's best







Hair I'm going to try to figure out





I wish I owned this get up




Frozen Hot Chocolate



Killer Shoes



Wake Up!!!

This post might not end up making any sense whatsoever but I feel like I need to vent. Have you ever had someone in your life that hasn't quite clued into life yet? Someone who you and everyone else around them can see their full potential but the person themselves just can't? I am so frustrated! I have someone close to me who I know is selling themselves short but I can't think of anything else I can possibly do to help. I've tried everything I can come up with but it's gone nowhere.
I think I'm having my first glimpse of what it might feel like to be a parent. It's awful. I wish I could drill a testimony of the gospel into their hearts for them and I wish they could see themselves how I see them. Even more so, I wish I could help them know what our Eternal Father feels for them.
This person is so lost and lonely but I can see straight through the tough front...I'm not stupid. If only this person could wake up and figure out what's truly important in life. I know that they can find true happiness in the gospel if they would just quit fighting it. What to do, what to do...

Study Buddy

All of my classes are night classes this semester which is good and bad. Good because it doesn't interfere with my work schedule (too much) so I can still work full time. Bad because I can still work full time, but the worst part is that since I'm gone ALL day and night, I don't see much of the husband.
Lately Eric has come up with the perfect solution. He just comes to school with me and studies in the common areas while I go to class! It has added so much more time to be able to see each other and I totally love it.
We were holding hands while we were walking on campus and we had to laugh because I kinda felt like one of those hand-holding couples in high school. So funny. I also love that we are right across the street from Crown Burger so it's easy to or grab a shake on our way in or out. This has become my favorite part of the semester by far.

Rejuvenated

I'm sorry I bring school up all of the time but this blog is for journal(ing) purposes after all, and school is a major part of my life these days. So don't read it if you don't want to hear it :)
Anyways, Fall semester has started and I have been a little put out because being a transfer student, you are bound to run into issues with ALL if your credits transferring smoothly. Long story short, mine haven't. It's even more frustrating because had everything switched over correctly, I would be in my last semester! But this isn't the point of this post so I'll get on with it.
I was super deflated having to go back and take one of the entry level classes. Not trying to sound snobby but I already know this stuff!!! I hate that I have to waste money and valuable time that I could be taking other classes that would get me closer to graduation. Long story short, I get to the class and find that my very favorite teacher will be teaching the class. Sweet. at least one good thing about being here! Then, as we gathered together for our abnormally large design meeting, we had to go around and tell everyone the reasons why we choose Interior Design as a major...This is where it gets good.
As the girls all told us what made them choose this path for their career, (some way more valid than others) I was reminded of why I am so passionate about what I do. I truely know that I am in the right place.
I was reminded of a story that Elder Eyring told I think it was in conference sometime about his dad. Elder Eyring Sr. was a mathmetician and would take Elder Eyring Jr. down in their basement on their free time to teach him math. One day Elder Eyring's father noticed that his son wasn't showing much interest. "Henry, we went over this problem last week but you don't seem to know it any better this week than you did last week; do you not just think about math all of the time?" He went on to council his son that he needs to pick a career with something that he loves. Whatever it is that he always thought about when there was nothing else going on. Whatever makes him happy.
Interior Design is my "Math". I love it and I am ALWAYS thinking about it. I have since I was a kid and even though I can get run down and tired by the end of the semester, I love what I do. I can't wait to get into a firm or out on my own to be able to see my designs built and turned into real life. I love being inspired and as maticulous as it gets, I love it even more. Like I tell Eric all the time when he teases me for being a perfectionist...someday I will get paid for being a perfectionist. I'm lucky to be in a place that I can persue what I love and have a family who backs me up 100%. I truely am in the right place and I was humbled by this class I so despirately wanted to hate.

Football Season

I love football season. I always have and I think it's safe to say that I always will. This week was the kick off for college football and I feel like I'm home again. Cheese ball I know but I'm totally serious.
As I was walking to the stadium to watch our Utes begin their season, I literally felt my heart fill with joy.
Seriously, I love the spirit of it all and I love seeing the sea of red shirts everywhere on game day. I see a car on the street with their U of U flags flapping in the wind and I automatically like the person driving it. I even love the sound of a football game that I don't necessarily care about being on t.v. just so that I can take a nap to it. and  I love the smell of BBQ from all of the crazy U of U tail-gaiters by our house. (I say this because Eric has expressed to me that he'll know he's made it in life when we are those people.) yep. we aim for the stars. and he is 100% honest when he says that's one of his aspirations in life.
Tonight I am sitting here with the husband and his dad flipping through every single NCAA football game on t.v. listening to the two of them talk football..... and argue football. They love it and I love it.

A Little Breather

I wish I could describe how great I feel right now. Last night I presented my last final project and this semester is officially O-V-E-R. It's so great. After I got home from class it was kind of surreal, Eric took me out to dinner to celebrate and there is no greater feeling than be able to sit and not have a pit in my stomach because I really should be doing a million other things and how far back my sitting was going to set me. I hate that feeling. And sadly it's a feeling that has seemed permanent this summer. Stupid.
The only downer on my recently acquired freedom is that Eric started his fall semester on Monday and I finished my summer semester on Tuesday...Boo.
On a lighter note, I don't think I've posted anything about what we've done with the remainder of our summer but here's what we've been up to...

Carol and Jeff watched the boys while Pete and Ali were in Germany and I'm not sure who had more fun...

                                              Somehow it always turns into a wrestling match.
We also had the annual Theurer trip to Newport! This is honestly one of my favorite places, I get excited for this trip all year long. Of course, genius me forgot to bring the charger for our camera. I'm so mad! But here are my two favs from the first day.

 We literally drove home from California with Eric's parents all day, picked up our car from their house and drove straight to Bear Lake. Another one of my favorite places on earth! Pretty sure we counted that we drove through 6 states that day and it was so great.
A few of my cousins were actually able to make it up to chill with us too and we totally loved it!

Eric and Miss Lula Jane (my cousins baby)

Some of the Gamers 

 

A true miracle happening before your eyes...Allex's 5 minute hug

My dad chillin with baby Lula while the rest of us caused havoc

    



Eric being Eric

                      

Eric and Rand AKA our new navy seals

Don't Worry, only one chair collapsed on me.

These are the victims waiting to be attacked by our not so sneaky navy seals.

Allex and Taige

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me doing homework on vacation! I know it was probably frustrating but sometimes a girl's just gotta do what she's gotta do. Also, thanks to everyone for dealing with me. I've had way too many late nights of homework and I'm pretty sure I'd turned into a crazy person. It's great to be back!

Happy Birthday America! ...and Eric!

July is flying by WAY too fast. We have been crazy busy but are enjoying every lit bit of July we can. I love July for so many reasons, I love birthdays for one and there are some pretty awesome things born in July. As we all know, America was born on the 4th. There's not much better than being outside on the fourth of July watching fireworks and having a BBQ. I love the smell of July and corn on the cob, swimming and vacations and everything else July has to offer.The 4th was kind of a funny one for Eric and I, the day started off with him going golfing which is great...However, I did homework honestly from 8a.m. to 5p.m. and we hadn't nailed down any plans till he came home around 5. His parents were still in Nauvoo for a few more weeks and all his siblings were out of town. My family was all at the Real game and we were probably too late to tag along...So this is what we did.

My in-laws house sits on a prime location for firework watching so Eric and I picked up on of my favorite cakes from The Store; we even snagged the last one with fireworks on it so I was pretty pumped. Then we pulled up a few lawn chairs on the deck and watched every firework show in the Salt Lake Valley. I wish I had taken a picture of the Sugar House show because it was literally right in front of us! I also forgot that Eric decided to take his bike out for a trail ride...Hence the random dirt bike pic at the top. That was Eric headed back up the street after being out on the trail.
It sounds like a lame night but it was so awesome! It was great to slow down the pace for the night and I hope I never forget this 4th of July.
We also celebrated another very important birth...Mr. Eric Dave Theurer was born on July 10, 1987 ......doing the math makes him 24 years old! Yay for that! His birthday was on a Sunday so the two of us decided to celebrate Saturday night. We went to Tucano's...one of his favs and stuffed ourselves sick with delicious food.
On Sunday we had a party over at the Hobson parentals. It was wild as expected. He chose to have pork chops and goopy cake which were all super yummy thanks to my lovely mom.

Jeff and Carol finally came home this week so we celebrated with them Thursday with some BBQ chicken and root beer floats. I'm so sad, I totally forgot to take pictures at the Theurer's :(

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC! I'm so happy you were born!
 In other news, Eric has been golfing like a maniac. Pretty sure he's gone almost everyday for the past month or so. I'm happy he's able to do something he loves so much on such a regular basis because he's not going to have many summers that will allow him this much leisure time. Live it up while you can honey! He probably won't tell you but he qualified for the State Amature Golf Tournament! This is not easy for those like me who don't (didn't) follow golf much. I think he shot a 76 in the qualifying tournament. I'm really bad at keeping track when I watch him but I loved being there and I don't know how these dudes do it. Tournament play has so much pressure! I'd tank for sure.
Here he is playing in the actual State Amature Tournament up at Soldier Hollow where he didn't play so well. Poor guy had been playing that course so consistently but then came time for the tournament and didn't play very well. I think it was a mixture of nerves and he threw his back out on the second day so he had a hard time driving. Either way, I'm very proud of him.

Also, here's a quick pic of the Hobson Open Champion for the 2nd year in a row!

Trippin'

As most know, Eric and I both LOVE to travel and this month we were lucky enough to be able to add to our long list of adventures!

I will admit that I'm pretty spoiled, Eric is so much better at making things happen than I am. I have SO many things on my "bucket list" but when it comes down to it, I'm also quite a cheapskate. Especially because we're both still in school and money doesn't grow on trees. (for us at least) But Eric is a champ. He did his research and we discovered that we only have one week out of the entire year of 2011 that our school breaks match up because we go to different schools. So crappy! So he did a little more research...which made my Christmas and Birthday presents so exciting! I had no idea what he'd been planning. What's even better is that he did everything, he booked our flights, the hotels and transportation in Miami, our cruise plus all of the fun excursions we did on our ports, not to mention his major budget/saving skills to make it all happen. Yep, he's a CHAMP! All I had to do was pack my little bag and get on the airplane.

This is how it all went down....

First, we flew into Miami and spent a day checking out the beach. At night we took a cab down to South Beach for dinner and totally loved it. The night life in South Beach is awesome, and I swear there are hardly any Americans (mostly Europeans) but we found this huge complex that was full of cool shops and outdoor restaurants.

Day 2
Waking up and walking out to the beach is more than and ideal way to start any day so that's what we did! We didn't have to board our ship till noon so Eric and I spend the morning on Miami beach in front of our hotel and from there we grabbed our bags and boarded the Carnival Liberty. These ships are unreal. I can't believe how big they really are and how much stuff they can put on them. When we first got on the ship they had lunch ready up on the main deck where we could find literally anything you wanted to eat and eat as much as you wanted. So we grabbed some lunch and a plate of cheese cake and headed out to sit by the pool. And then we were off!

Day 3
We cruised all night and all through the next day on our way to our first port. When I say these ships have everything, they really do cause we never ran out of things to do. There was mini golf, basketball courts, volleyball courts, games rooms, live chess, casinos, comedy shows, magicians, water slides with 3 pools and hot tubs. Our favorite thing was the huge movie theater out on the main deck. We'd go out there every night after all of the singing/dancing shows ended and grab some popcorn, hot chocolate and a blanket to watch a movie. I hope I never forget those nights.

Day 4

Cozumel, Mexico

We had a full day in Cozumel so we had planned to try to see as much as we possibly could. When we got off the ship that morning, we rented a jeep and headed to find the ancient Mayan Ruins that are still on the island. This was pretty funny (not really) Eric and I discovered that we could probably never be on the show Amazing Race...one of our favorites that we've always wanted to audition for. To sum it up, we got lost.

This pic was before we got lost...hence the happy faces. haha

 The Mayan ruins we were trying to find were in the middle of the island, in the middle of a forest. haha not so easy to find and for some odd reason none of the locals we stopped to ask directions from knew where these ruins were. Especially weird because this place was quite a big deal once we got there but anyway. Once we were on the right track the rest of the day was like a dream. We took the top off the jeep and just cruised the island doing whatever our little hearts desired...



We did some Jet Skiing. This was actually pretty hilarious because our 1st jet ski broke down clear out in the ocean....I am deathly afraid of sharks so I was sure I was shark bait. Luckily the people saw us after about ten minutes and came out to rescue us. Thank goodness!!!

We Snorkeled...

Here are a few more pics of our Mexico adventures.

Then it was back to the ship to get cleaned up for another delicious meal. Not a bad way to live my friends.

Day 5
This was another day on the ship which was great because sometimes you just want to relax; and you better believe relaxing is what we did! It was awesome.
Day 6
Grand Cayman! This was such a blast, When we arrived to Grand Cayman it was go time. We went straight out to the great barrier reef to snorkel. I think it was about a 30 minute boat ride to get out to the reef but once your out there, we literally just jumped off the back of the boat and went for it. So fun! If you've ever seen the movie Finding Nemo

After a few of our out to sea adventures, we decided to go to the famous 7 mile beach I'm still not really sure why they call it that because it's definitely a lot longer than 7 miles but whatever, this beach was perfect. It was what beaches look like on post cards...not real but this totally was. It had silky white sand, the water was 80+ degrees and it was hardly crowded at all. It honestly felt like a dream!

Day 7
Pretty sure this day was insane. We ported in Ochreos, Jamaica and I will have to try my best to adequately describe this day without making this post go on forever. (because it already has)
 Let me start off by explaining Eric's love for Bob Marley, a part of me thinks he may have picked this cruise for the sole reason of the ship porting in Jamaica, only a cab ride away from Bob Marley's house. For whatever reason, I'm so happy he did! as soon as we stepped foot on land we headed strait to the people we booked this tour with and that was it. The whole thing seemed a little sketch and everyone on the ship kept warning us to be careful everywhere we went in Jamaica and we'd be especially crazy to try to buy anything...definitely didn't listen to them. We were directed to a van along with several other people from our ship(which was slightly more comforting to know other people would be with us) NOT! We were driven across the street where they told only Eric and I to get out and get in this tiny car with our cab driver. Maybe we are totally stupid but we did as we were told and got in the car. Our cab driver (Cedric) was the man. At first I thought he was gonna totally screw us over...or kill us for that matter but clearly he didn't. The nest thing we knew we were cruisin up through the mountainside in Jamaica. I feel like this in itself was should be a survival story, the streets were insanely narrow, like smaller than a single lane in the states but it had both directions of traffic using it plus all of the people walking along the sides. Most people in Jamaica don't have cars, the walk everywhere and by the looks of their homes/huts I think its safe to say they were just thankful to have those. It was amazing though, we got to see all of the little school kids walking to school in their uniforms and they were SOOO cute! It's definitely a different world out there though. We didn't realize the cab ride was going to be so long but it ended up being over and hour and a half . This turned out to be my favorite part of the day. After trying to get passed the thought of this guy tricking us to actually be taking us up to the mountains to kill us, I didn't want to miss out on what I was seeing. I loved that we were able to get out of all of the touristy areas and see the "real" Jamaica and it's beautiful people.  They are beautiful.

Cedric apparently was friends with everyone we passed, we'd pull over and someone would give him some fruit through the window for him to eat which he shared with us, he'd honk at everyone and they'd all wave to greet him. Like I said, he was the man and all of this totally added to our experience.
When we made it up to Bob's house, Cedric asked us if we smoked...no. Long story short, we were offered all sorts junk but Cedric our trust cab driver totally helped us out and fought them all off for us. Thanks Cedric. Bob's house was everything Eric had hoped it would be. We did a little tour with another couple that (thankfully) pulled up a few minutes after us that were also from our ship. That made me feel so much better. The dude that showed us around was hilarious, no doubt he was already high and it was only 9am! He was great though, he told us all about the property and what memories of Bob's childhood. The best part was that he;s break into song midway through half of his sentences with lyrics from Bob's music that was written from that very place and applied exactly to what we were seeing. SO COOL! We loved it. Bob was also "buried" there (along with his mother, brother and grandparents)  However, he was not actually buried, his body is in a tomb six feet above the ground because he lived his life "flying high" all the time so it was only fitting to keep him above ground. Awesome.
After seeing all that we needed to see up there, it was back to the cab for our long and crazy ride back down the mountain. Where we climbed Dunn's Falls!!! This was unreal and I recommend it to everyone.

To wrap it all up, We spent the last day on the ship and it was back to Miami where we had one more day to soak in our short lived free time before it was back to reality.

It's nice to be home and I actually did miss our tiny apartment!

P.S. Sorry for the Picture Overload!!!