The Kids LOVE Mr. Kay

Marshall's students spoiled him this Christmas. Our counter & table are covered in goodies that his students brought for him. He also got this stunning tie, a coffee mug and several gift cards. And he thought he was the mean teacher... pshaw...

Our Gingerbread House

Last Sunday Marshall's family got together to celebrate Marshall's birthday and to make gingerbread houses. Here is how ours turned out.
The front. On our left we have a snowman and on the right we have a guy (with yellow buttons) that was putting up decorations and fell off the roof.
The back. Very snowy bushes and a roof dripping with snow. So clever.
My favorite part is the man on the roof putting up the lights and he is only half way done. Marshall's genius idea!

4 Years to the Day

August 2006

That's right, 4 years ago today Marshall and I had our first date! We saw the Chronicles of Narnia at the Provo mall theater and I gave Marshall some chocolate and he left it in the pocket of his shirt and it melted. Nothing like making a good first impression! Actually, with our upcoming nuptials, this would be a good time to tell our story... I met Marshall in June of 2005 when he came into the hotel that I worked at and asked for an application. He told me that he knew that day that if he was ever going to get married it would be to a girl like me. Anywho... Marshall didn't get hired until September and at that time I was dating someone so we just remained acquaintances. In November my relationship ended and I finally "noticed" Marshall. He came in to get his paycheck and he looked SO handsome! I will never forget, a few girls I worked with and myself were in my office and he came in, we all got silent and the minute he left we all picked our jaws off the floor and started giggling like we were 5. I will just say he made a great impression and from that day on we started talking a little more. He told me how he was new to Provo (from NY) and he was taking a humanities class next semester and he was going to have to go to a lot of plays and ballets and such and maybe I could go with him sometime. I didn't think anything of it. Well, I left the hotel mid-December and as I was leaving for some reason I decided to stay and talk to Marshall. We got talking about the Chronicles of Narnia and I was saying how much I loved it and wanted to see it an he said he did to so we decided to go, and that we did, December 14, 2005. I found out later he has never read the books, it was a total lie, he was just getting me to go out with him.

Marshall and I hung out from December to July and he was one of my favorite people. We went to plays, symphonies, ballets, musicals, concerts, movies, you name it! I thought we were just friends the whole time and we would go out with other, it was never awkward. I just thought since he was new in town he needed friends and I was one of them. (I later found out that he was into me the whole time and he just has an incredible amount of patience).

Late June Marshall invited me to a Gregory Isaacs concert. At the last minute I decided to go and that was a night that changed my life forever. Nothing was different, but mid-concert I remember thinking "I wish Marshall would hold my hand or something" and I kid you not, maybe 2 minutes later he grabbed me around the waist. We had a super good time but I knew things were about to change. That night we stayed at a friends house because Marshall was leaving for N.Y. the next day for his fathers wedding. It was super late so instead of driving home Marshall made me a bed on the floor and he slept on the couch. I remember waking up and his arm hanging off and being on my back and I just smiled. While Marshall was gone it SUCKED. I just wanted to hang out with him so badly, I finally broke down and called him just for the heck of it (he says he knew that second that he had me). The day Marshall came back things were different. We were more flirty, I finally realized that we were not going to just be friends and it was GREAT!

July 4th we had our first kiss and things were starting to get serious. Just in time for me to leave for 2 weeks. I went to NY for a week with my girlfriend and then to Chicago for a week, i had a great time but I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss and think about Marshall A LOT! A couple days after I got back from my trip we went to my friend Kathy's wedding. And on the way we had a DTR (define the relationship). And from that day on we have been together. We have been through tons together and with all the arguments, disagreements, life changes, ups, downs, family issues and personality changes we have chosen to stick by each others side! That says something if you ask me. Through the years we have gotten tons of advice and one of the best pieces we got was someone telling us to marry someone you can fall in love with at least 5 times because people change. I can say that I have fallen in love with Marsh twice now. He is not the same person that I met but don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. The changes he as made are for the better and maybe I have just fallen more in love with him instead of re-falling in love with him. He is truly my best friend in the entire world and I am cannot wait to be his wife in 34 days!!

Shower Invites

My friends Amandah and Carrie are throwing me a "friend" bridal shower in a couple of weeks and they sent me a picture of the invites and I though I would share since I think they turned out freaking adorable! Yay for 39 more days!!

Hmmm.... Something looks a little fishy...

Marshall says he is not a "kid person"...









But I just don't know if I believe him!!!

Newest Addition

So I have decided that I need to do something besides go to work, school and study. The only problem is that it needed to be inexpensive because money is tight right now. So being the brilliant mind that I am, I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and I will make a decorations for my house. One project per month, one addition to our home each month and one hobby to free my mind of my craziness called life. I love making things anyways. It is so gratifying to have just supplies and then end with an amazing one of a kind finished product. Since I just decided that this would be a good escape I didn't have much time for the October project so this is what I came up with.A red berry wreath to go in my red, black & White bathroom. Marshall even admitted that it added a nice touch. Total cost:$7.00. Not bad.

Tender

My old roommate came over last night with her new baby. While KiaLee and I caught up Marshall watched (and offered to watch) new little KayLynn. I love seeing these manly men holding a ball of purple, flowery, bow covered babyness. So cute! It was way good to see KiaLee too, it makes me remember all the good times we had and how GREAT of a roommate she was. I can't wait to be done with school so I can plan more time to spend with friends and family that I hardly ever get to see anymore.

PS. I can't help but notice, and point out, that Marshall's hair resembles Mr. T in this picture. hahaha

Long awaited...

For those of you that do not know, I collect thimbles. Yes, that is right, I am 25 not 80 and I collect thimbles. My mom started me on it when I was young and when friends and family caught onto the idea they would bring them back from anywhere they went. Originally it was only supposed to be places I had been but hey, the more the merrier.
I had them stashed away in drawers and I had so many that I started looking at cases. I showed this one to Marshall and he got it for me for Christmas, only he NEVER makes me wait until Christmas so of course I stocked it the minute it came! It holds 68 and I have another 20 or so in the other room. I have a lot of doubles though. The only states that I am missing are: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi & North Dakota (pretty much all places that I will never go). Some of the countries that I have are China (bottom left), Jamaica, Finland, & Ecuador. My BROTHER (that is bold so that my sister-in-law will see it and give him a hard time) that went to Russia for 2 years claims that he couldn't find them so he brought back (among a ton of other stuff) the Russian stacking doll (third from the left) and considering I will probably never go to Russia it will have to do. I also have a hand painted one from my mom, one that my great grandmother used to use and has since passed away, the 4 corners and one from when the Olympics came to Utah. Hopefully Marshall and I will go somewhere super cool for our honeymoon so that I can get some more! Its addicting! Don't make fun because you are jealous.

nuestra casa

Here are a few pics of our (sort of) new house. It is a work in progress...

el dormitorio principal (The master bedroom)

la zona de baño principal (the master bathroom area)

el baño principal (the master bath)

This is the walkway between the master room and the master bathroom. On the right side is the sink area (pictured above) and on the left is the master closet (pictured next)el armario del dormitorio principal (the master closet). This is only about a third of our clothes... we fill up the entire guest bedroom closet, the 4 drawers under the guest bed and both of our nightstands are full of clothes as well. Don't worry folks, we will not be going around naked for a while ;o)
el dormitorio de huéspedes (the guest bedroom)
My not-so-happy helper...
More pictures to come...

And, I don't know why I wrote them all in Spanish first. I wasn't going to translate but then you would have no idea what I was talking about so being the nice person that I am, I clarified for you. And no, I do not know Spanish. I translated it all on line. Thank you very much.

Its about that time...

Here are a few of our favorite engagement pictures. We have TONS more but since I can't add them all I thought I would just put the few that I had with me that I liked. Enjoy.


I am not quite sure why the resolution is so screwy when I upload them but you get the gist.

Just want to share

It is easy to forget how much someone means to you or helps you when they make you upset so I think the reason I am posting about this is so that I can refer back to it when I get frustrated with Marshall...

This weekend...
On Friday night I found some nightstands that I wanted and have been looking for for about 2 months. Marshall and I went and picked them up late with no time to do anything to them. I got the project of refinishing them going Saturday afternoon when I decided to take a break from studying. Marshall got home around 4 from Lacrosse practice and he immediately started helping me with the task that I took on. After about an hour he took it upon himself to go and get us some dinner and he only had one drink cup in his car so he brought me a diet coke and got nothing for himself to drink. We were up until 2 doing these blasted things and we still were not finished.

Sunday morning when I got up I found him on the deck finishing painting the last coat on the nightstand. It needed one more coat of black, varnish, holes drilled and the hardwear put on. When he was finished he came in and started helping me clean. When i got done with the back side of the house he had the kitchen and living room done and all the furniture moved so I could vacuum.

Immediately after finishing cleaning I had to go to a study group. I got home around 5 to find the nightstand complete and put where it goes, all of the laundry done (at least 4 loads), including folded and put away, he had ironed the work close from the laundry, including mine and he had dinner almost ready. My favorite part is that I didn't ask him to do these things, he just does it and doesn't say anything to get recognition.

Even writing this post makes me teary. There is no possible way that I could get everything done around the house and still have time to study for my classes and I don't know what I would do without him. Not only does he keep my spirits up but he makes me laugh all the time, he makes light of a crappy situations, always encourages and pushes me and he helps me see the light at the end of the tunnel. My classes this semester are by far the hardest classes I have ever taken and they require extreme amounts of time. Not only that but I am right in the heart of wedding plans on top of everything else.

Marshall, you are my superhero, my sanity, my entertainment and my best friend! I love you so much!! In case I forget to tell you sometimes, thank you for all you do for me. I promise it does not go unrecognized and one day I hope that I can be as good of a companion to you as you are to me.

The latest

This was our weekend project...

BeforeAfter

We are slowly trying to get the furniture we need for the apartment but doing it in the most cost efficient way as possible. We found these great, solid wood nightstands on KSL for $50, paid $16 for new hardware and about $10 on paint and supplies. A nice wood nightstand usually runs around $200 and we got BOTH of these for about $75!!!! And it is always fun to do stuff like this with Marshall until 2 in the morning... you talk about some really random stuff at that hour...

My name is Jennifer and I'm a polishaholic!

Ladies and gentleman, the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem so here it goes... Marshall pointed this out a couple years ago and I didn't think anything of it until yesterday. I was at Walgreens getting some chapstick (it was an emergency ;o)) and I was in a major hurry but no matter how fast I needed to move I could not help looking at the fingernail polish!! Every time I go into a store I MUST look at the, and sometimes buy, fingernail polish! I even do it at grocery stores, its that bad! When I am with Marshall I make it a very smooth transaction so he doesn't know that is what I am doing, I totally rubberneck the aisle and just stare as hard as I can at all the wonderful shades of colors that I most likely already have! My real problems are when I go to Rite-Aid or Walgreens though because I buy at least one EVERYTIME! For instance... yesterday, I bought a new top coat that supposedly dries super fast and is super shiny. How many clear top coats does a girl need??? I tried it at the red light on my thumb and about 2 minutes later when I was back at work, It was totally dry! I was proud of my purchase at this point! I will try and post a picture of my collection later, I just wanted to get this off my chest. About 2 months ago I went through all my colors and gave all my duplicates or colors that I don't wear anymore to on of my friends and my bag is still bulging and wont shut :( Oh my horrible, troubled life... why me?!?

Cheese Nips NOT Cheez-Its

So... last month at the grocery store on a random whim Marshall and I picked up some delightful cheesy crackers because they were on sale. I had forgotten how much I love the little delights until I divulged. Well, this month at the grocery store I thought that since I loved them so much I would get another box. Well, I pulled them out at work today and after eating just one I realized that this was not the same delicious snack cracker that I had the month before. I thought about it for a while and the only logical reason for this taste discrepancy would be that last month I must have bought Cheese Nips and this month I bought Cheez-Its thinking they were what I bought last month. If these people could get creative with there names this sort of catastrophe would not happen! Moral of the story... Cheese NIPS=GOOD, Cheez-ITS=NOT SO MUCH

Down with the bean game!!!!

My brother's family got me "the bean game" for my birthday last month and I have played it more than any other game EVER! Marshall absolutely LOVES it! Every night we play at least one round (he always wins, that may have something to do with why he always wants to play), whenever we go somewhere he makes me take it with us and now he is asking our friends if they have played and if they want to play! Last weekend we were going to drop some stuff off at my mothers and she texted me to bring it down, but of course Marshall already had it in the car, so we played it with my mom and grandma and it was a riot! It is seriously a super fun game and it is addicting but for crying out loud Marshall, we need a new game!!!! Mix it up a little or something!!!

Just New

So we are trying to make our house more like a home but since we wont be living there forever we don't want to put a ton of money into it so we are trying to improvise. For instance, i made these fabulous curtains for the guest room...

(they are sage green and plum purple... you can't really see the colors very well in this picture)

I just wanted to post this because it was so cute. I got home last night to find my cute little teacher grading papers of his middle school students in the living room. I don't know why but I just think it is adorable!!