Halloween 2009

We couldn't miss MiShelle's Halloween party this year so we went home to Vernal for the weekend. To be honest we aren't really big Halloween people it took almost a full month of feeling guilty to make myself dress us up. We heard a good/easy idea so and Matt and I were Mr. & Mrs. Smarty Pants, very witty if you ask us. The party was a lot of fun we left Salt Lake late so we missed the part of the party where they vote on the best costumes or else I am SURE we would have won something. It was nice to be home for the weekend with the parents and to just spend time with them. Here are some pictures of the party...

Me and MiShelle

Amber and Steve (Wednesday & Pugsley Adams)

Brenna was a hot rocker

Drew and Kristen (yeah thats Kristen on the back with the mustache.)

Me and Baby Daxton

Little Sydnie is getting married!

So I had the cutest college roommate, Sydnie Meidell. We moved into the same room together at Dixie State in August of 2004. We moved in with 4 other girls who had already lived together and were best friends. When I called to talk to Sydnie on the phone before getting to school she ended our phone conversation with saying, "well smell ya later." I was a little nervous about what I was getting myself into but she turned out to be the funniest roommate ever. She and I bonded instantly and were good friends from the get go. She is one of those girls that all boys want to date and all girls love to hate. I didn't mean for that to rhyme it just happened. She is a complete sweetheart and would give you the shirt off her back. Awhile into the semester we decided that it was hard to chat at night with our beds on opposite sides of the room so we pushed them together and made one giant bed it made for a lot of giggly nights. Anyway cute little Syd is getting married this coming weekend. Amber Herzog threw her a bridal shower this last week and i was privileged to attend here are some pictures. I will post pictures of the wedding as well, I can't wait to see her in her dress she will make a beautiful bride and a great wife.

Lately...

So my mom loves family pictures, I don't mind them but Jo always feels as though we are having a new family picture taken every month. So we couldn't miss a new opportunity. We had Sam Hadlock come up to Salt Lake and take some family pictures of us. He did a really good job. Something happened to his disc so I only have like 2 pictures at the moment but when I get more I will post them. I really do have the best family in the world!! As you can tell from the group picture we aren't very good at being serious when it comes to family pictures I am sure Sam thought we were so stupid.

Speaking of family it was my Grandma Kremin's 76th birthday this month so we had a little girls weekend. A bunch of the Kremin girls surprised her for the big day. We had dinner at The Garden. Then we headed to The Marriot where we go into our pajamas and laughed the night away. We played spin the bottle till midnight and laughed so hard our bellies hurt. I love all these girls so much I feel like they are all my sisters. I think Grandma was surprised by it all and had a good time. She is one of the greatest women I know super funny, talented, smart and kind as kind can get. It was nice to have a weekend just to celebrate her.

Lastly, this past weekend we babysat baby Will for our good friends Andy and Mycah. I like to call Will my God Son, because I am pretty much is second mom. ha ha Not really! Anyway they

were moving so asked us to watch him for a little while. He was the perfect child and even fell asleep in my arms at the end of the evening it was precious. We didn't leave his side the entire evening, we were so worried he would fall down or smash his fingers in something. It was actually tiring. We just looked at each other and were amazed at how our friends do it all the time. I guess that's why they make play pens. He really was a gem we only hope that our own kids are that good. Look how cute he is....AHHHH!

Since being home from Europe...

Gosh, I am finally done blogging about Europe so I can move on to what has been going on since we got home. The first couple of weeks were CRAZY with trying to catch up at work and at school. I still sort of feel like I haven't had time to catch up. Anyway my two dearest friends both had little babies within a few weeks of each other. MiShelle had baby Daxton and Emily had baby Norah. I am so proud of both of them they were so strong and brave, neither had the easiest birth. I got to visit baby Norah when she was just a new little one up at LDS hospital. She was so perfect it amazed me. It was spiritual even for me to hold her little body, isn't God wonderful?Emily and Brian now live in Ohio so that is probably the last time I will see Norah sadly for awhile. I was sick right after I saw her so I couldn't go see her again and as Em just told me on the phone she is changing by the minute. The picture of her isn't that great because I

forgot my camera so its taken from Matt's phone. I didn't get to see Daxton until he had been out for a few weeks since Jesse and Mishelle live in Vernal. I couldn't wait to see him and he was everything I hoped for. He loves me so much of course and let me hold him without a fuss for a few hours. It was fabulous! According to Mish, Daxton or DAX as I like to call him, is a wonderful baby and has his aunt Raquel's eyes. Ok I added that part in there. He is super cute and I can't wait to get back to Vernal to hold him. We just happened to go to Vernal that weekend for a very special event. My dear friend Heather was married to a great guy, Eric. I wouldn't have missed seeing her happy face on that day for anything. I was glad I could be there and all events in Vernal are like one big high school reunion so they are really fun. Here are some

pictures, congrats Heather! By the way I chopped all my hair off as well!

Book Reviews

I have read three wonderful books lately that I thought I would share.

First a friend bought me a book for my trip to Europe it was Tuesdays with Morrie. Let me tell you this is an AWESOME book. It is a quick read, that will change your mind about life. I finished it actually before I even got to Europe and was crying in the plane. It is about a man who realizes that he has everything and nothing at the same time. He wants to change his life and learns a lot from an old college professor Morrie. It's a must read I loved it and would read it again. Second I read Rebekah: Women of Genesis by Orson Scott Card. This is the second book in a three book series about fabulous women of the Bible. He is such a good writer, he brings these women off the page and makes you want to be their friends. It was very well written and I would recommend it to anyone. Third I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This is a best seller and for good reason. This was by far the best book I have read in YEARS! I will even put it up there as one of my favorite books of all time. I borrowed the book but am going to buy it because I could read it again and again. The entire book is a collection of fictional letters between a woman in London and a literary society on the channel islands. It takes place right after the end of World War 2. It is super witty, I laughed (out loud) a lot and cried at times. It is so well written that you feel like you are there and you feel their joys and their pains. Oh my gosh, I can't even describe how great this book is, I couldn't wait to get to the end to see what happened but then I was so sad that it was over. I highly recommend everyone read this book. Lastly, I started reading The Life of Pi. I need some help because I just can't get into it. Supposedly it's a great book it's won a lot of awards and millions of people have read it. I am 140 pages into and I am bored out of my mind. If anyone has read it and thinks I should keep going please give me a good reason.

Headed Home - Aug 29th

So thats the end of our trip, we were sad to see it end but we were sick of carrying around our backpacks and that huge box of chocolates. We flew from London to North Carolina waited there forever and then flew to Denver. We tried to get all the way home that night but the odds weren't in our favor so we spent the night in Denver and flew the rest of the way home the next day. We started school and went back to work the next morning...not a good idea. We should have given ourselves a day or two to catch up and do laundry and unpack but because we didn't that was spread out over the next 2 weeks. There was a lot of stuff to catch up on. We were so grateful we took the time to go to Europe it was awesome and so nice to see our friends over there. We have decided that we always go there on vacation so our next big trip won't be to Germany or Poland and it probably won't be for a few years either!

Prague, Czech Republic - Aug 28th, 2009

I have been dying to go to Prague just because I hear it's beautiful. Matt has been at least 3 times and so I had to beg him to sneak it into our trip. And sneak is exactly what happened we left Poland super early in the morning and go to Prague at around 6:30am. It was actually really cool to be there that early because all the tourists were still asleep and the streets were very quiet. We were only there for about 4 hours before moving back on to London but it was so worth the lay over. I can't wait to go back one day and spend more time. While we were there we did a LOT of work to find this little apple strudel place that we saw on the travel channel before we left. I had the feeling that because it was supposedly "the best strudel in all of Europe" that it would be right down town. WRONG! This place was pretty far out of town and situated in what looked like some poor housing development. The man who served us was the guy we saw on tv which we were really excited about and so we took a picture of him. I must say if anyone goes to Prague you have got to find this place. the pastry was so light, it was chuck full of apples and cinnamon and it was super cheap. If there are two of you only get one we learned our lesson by getting two, your body can't handle that many apples in one sitting. It was DELICIOUS! We also went up to a castle overlooking Prague, it just happens to be the biggest castle (as far as how much land it takes up) in the world! I am grateful for a husband who is always up for anything, he was a great tour guide. From the castle we took a taxi back to the airport and flew back to London. We got there and checked into our hotel which was a Marriott and yes, there was a Book of Mormon in the side night stand. We were trying to decide what to do on our last night when Matt threw a paper airplane at me. Somewhat annoyed I unfolded the paper to find that he had two tickets to see WICKED on the West End. I have been dying to see Wicked for YEARS! My friend Emily used to sing me the songs on my mission whenever the streets were dark or we were alone in the church. Every since then I have been wanting to see it and have never had enough money to just pick up and go. Matt is so cute and bought us tickets on the 7th row. It was at the Apollo Victoria theater right outside of Victoria station in London. I got goosebumps through the first song and they didn't go away until we left the theater. It was one of the best surprises I have ever gotten. I love my husband! I secretly took some pictures in the theater so you could enjoy it as well.