Hunt Family Reunion

lets just say that the hunt family is so great! i love them to death. i was able to go to their family reunion this weekend as cameron's stand in. i went to the last reunion and lets be honest, i was scared out of my mind! i could not remember everyone's names for the life of me and we really just kept to ourselves most of the time. with cam not there, i really had to just be me and get to know everyone. i was extremely shy and nervous at first, but then i remembered how chill and loving their family is. i ended up having the best time with them.

i really got to know ryan and megan the most down there. i have grown such a respect for ryan and we were able to talk alot and he was so nice to me. i already consider all of them family. they may swear and drink and get crazy... but i laughed non stop and am so grateful for the loving people they are! 

noelle was nice enough to take me on a little adventure up to our camping spot two years ago and we found my tree! you see, two years ago at the hunt reunion, he was being a little but head and just kept pouting so i stopped talking to him for a bit haha. he finally realized he was being dumb so he grabbed my hand and took me down in the forest and told me to sit there and not talk. haha. he carved our names in the tree and i loved it! we found the tree and i added a few little things to it. it is so weird to see that and think it was two years ago we had been there in that very spot! not to mention how much we have changed... but our love has just grown and grown with time! 

it was such an amazing weekend that i didn't have service, was in the beautiful mountains and around all of the people that remind me of Cam :)

my mom is too cute :)

my mommy let me read her cute letters she is sending to cameron... all i have to say is i freaking love her!

the fact that she can talk to him about me and him getting married truly makes me so happy and i know it makes him happy too. why is she so wonderful? i have yet to figure this out but i am convinced that she is a true angel. i am so grateful for her in my life and don't know what i would do without her!

i love you mommy! :)

Quilting isn't my thing, but it's hers

about a week ago, noelle took me fabric shopping.

since she took me to get fabric for my WEDDING QUILT, i think it is safe to say that she approves of me and knows we are getting married haha :)

last night we spent forever cutting out the squares and putting blocks together.

it sure is going to be cute!

too bad i can' have it until January.... :)

my immortal best friend.

just when you think no one understands or could possibly know what you are going through, the Savior always steps in. It is so comforting to know that he does care and understands and that he shows us exactly what we need to do and gives us the courage to do it.

things are definitely looking up in my life right now. im just happy and i couldn't have made it here without the Lord, my sweetheart and my wonderful family. life gets hard and satan is working overtime, but God is winning and will be winning forever. :)

its been a great day :) goodnight everyone, i'll tell you about it in the morning! read your scriptures, say your prayers and sweet dreams!

Happy Fourth :)

All day I have been thinking back to when Cameron was here for the Fourth of July and how much fun that was! That day was jam packed and I loved it. If you missed it, take a look see here. This will be my last one without him! Next year we will be married.... too excited!

This year has been wonderful so far. We woke up extremely early to go get daylight donuts and head over to Provo to watch the balloons. It has always been one of my favorite parts. Then off to Denny's for breakfast, no one was really up to going to the parade this year. Then we bought this pool... haha yeah, we will get to that in a moment, and went home to get everything ready for the family to come over.

So this pool is 16'x16' so pretty big right? Well we set it up and start filling it up... lets just say a couple of hours later we are still in the process of filling it up. I guess we didn't realize how long it takes to fill up 3000 gallons of water... haha.

The family came over and we had the pool and the water slide up like usual. My family is so great and I am so blessed! Everyone had a blast and it was just so great! Now we are getting ready to go to the Stadium of Fire where I get to see my dearest Scotty McCreery. I may be a creeper, but I sure do love him and couldn't be any more excited! :) I will post after!

Happy 4th of July everyone! :)

Race Day :)

The day all started out when I woke up so mad at my dad. I had just dreamed that me and him were running the half marathon and we were killing it, basically the easiest thing of my life. My goal was to be under two hours and I was going to make that goal no problem, until my dad decided he wanted to stop and look at a freaking garden.... yes, a garden. We crossed the finish line at 2:00:09! I was so mad! 

My alarm woke me up at 4:00 am, and then again at 4:05 am, and then one more time at 4:10 am. Good thing I had to be at Kellie's house at 4:20. I made it over there at 4:25 am and we headed to the high school. I still could not believe how fast 13 weeks went. Race Day was finally here. I was feeling so confident and ready to just kill the race! Little did I know it wanted to kill me as well.

The race started and the first 2-3 miles are always the worst, trying to get into your groove and all numbed up. Once we hit that 3 mile marker it was smooth sailing down the canyon. We were booking it! Our fastest time ended up being around a 6 minute mile... we probably should have done some high elevation training as well. I was feeling great though. Downhill is my friend. Out of the canyon our family was there cheering us on, and that was so great. I was now at mile 7! wooohooo! I was so excited... but that excitement only lasted about a minute when I realized we were now going into rolling hills and that I was starting to feel my legs again. The more tired my legs got, the more work I had to do and the less I could breathe. Now all I could think was.... Shiz, I still have 5 miles to go! I kept going though.

We were met by family again just behind Lone Peak High School. I had now fallen pretty far behind everyone except Scott, but I wasn't so concerned about time anymore... I just wanted to finish without dying.  Scott caught me at Mile 10 and we decided to work together... well more like scott dragging me along trying to make me do something. My legs were done. Mile 10 was the longest mile of my life. I NOW WANTED TO DIE. Granted my longest run I have ever done in my life was an 8.5.... hmmmmm. Anyways scott pushed me and even though it was two miles of walk/run/walk/run, I was making it through.

My legs hurt and didn't want to go anymore. The sun was in my eyes. My body was simply exhausted, but I saw that finish line and finished strong. My family all there cheering for me. I can't even tell you how happy I was crossing that finish line. 13 weeks earlier I could barely run a mile without wanting to die... and now I had completed 13.1. My time was 2:14:00 which is not bad at all. This was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I couldn't have been happier that I stuck to it and accomplished one of my biggest goals. 

I freaking love my family and all the support they give to me! Thanks all of you! You are the best! :)

saturdays

yesterday was simply beautiful. my run was filled with the warm sun, clean cut grass and the smell of lilacs. it could not have been any more perfect.

the day started out with a run that about killed me. i am crazy to think i can run 13.1 miles in 10 weeks, but i will still work hard and try my best. its hard getting back into shape, but i will do it. im not giving up, i just get a little discouraged sometimes is all.

then i washed my car and headed over to little matt's soccer game. he is a good little player! i may have gotten a bit sunburned in the mean time.

the rest of the day was spent getting new workout clothes and helping Kayt and Jesse move Jesse out of his apartment. those two are way too cute. triple wedding next year i tell ya!

speaking of weddings, this beautiful day made me really consider moving my wedding back to april. i just have always wanted a spring wedding. how about we talk with cam about that when he gets back to real life, i may be able to convince him then. what can i say? he's excited, its cute :)

i really miss my best friend. we are now getting back to summer memories, which always make me miss him just a little bit more. today will be a perfect day to layout and write him a huge letter, he will enjoy that :) i sure love that man.

happy sunday everyone! go out and enjoy the beautiful weather!

sarah ella :)

This would be my beautiful niece Sarah Ella Tomlinson. Born April 18, 2012 7 lbs. 11.5 oz and 19 inches. This little angel is PERFECT. I adore her more than I probably should. She is the sweetest little thing. She hardly cries and is just peaceful. I was able to hold her for a long time yesterday while Jamie and Clint took naps. I also got to change her first diaper, I realize that might be a little weird, but I loved it! She sneezes a lot and it has to be the cutest thing ever. Mom and baby are doing so well and there have been no complications, except for maybe Jamie being completely out of it yesterday. But that was beyond her control haha and entertainment for us. What a blessing to our whole family. 

I wish Cam could have been here, we all do. I would not have been able to get him out of the hospital, let alone take her out of his hands. I can not wait till he gets to meet her. He just loves babies and kids, and it is probably best he isn't here, because we both are already TOO baby hungry for our own goods. I can't wait to get his reaction from the pictures and videos I will send to him though. 

I love Babies, and I have the cutest nieces and nephews. Don't even try to fight me on that, I will destroy you :)

baby week

well this is the week! a week for change. jamie is having her baby on wednesday. a new baby in the family, it just doesn't get better than that. cameron is finally getting transferred to kingsville. i can tell he is excited for his "baby" and i quote, "im dialated to about a 8 haha cause out on the mission we say we are pregnant and we are going to have a baby.... its gonna be so fun and me and Jamie are having babies at the same time!" im sorry honey, but that is just a little weird haha. its fine. with all this baby stuff going on i may have become a bit more baby hungry. which is okay, until i made the huge mistake of telling cam that. he wants a baby so bad. we would have a honeymoon baby if he had it his way. so when i said that, he about went through the roof. sorry to get your hopes up baby, but its NOT happening for a while! anyways, my change for the week is that i am actually going to lose weight! the past few weeks i have just sucked haha so i think its time to get back into my good eating and working out and dropping the pounds. it will be a good week though and email day was just the thing to start the wonderful week off! :)

lessons that you learn in life

it's not that i don't enjoy blogging anymore, because i could never stop loving it, but i have had way too much on my mind the past few weeks to both gather my thoughts and refrain from saying things i may regret. lets be honest, i was not a happy sky the past almost two months and its been very difficult. but the lord definitely works in mysterious ways and this time he had to bring me at an all time low to really learn some life changing lessons. i learned a lot today.

i know that he sent me to my family for a reason, because he knew what i would be facing in this stage of my life. he gave me them for examples and guidance throughout the hardest, yet best years of my life. and the one saving angel he gave me, my mommy. she is undeniably incredible. she sees the bigger pictures when i know i don't at all. she loves me although i make mistakes and she is there with such a pure love. no other woman could have taught me better than her, because she gets it. she knows the realities of life and she is so close to our heavenly father that she knows what will help us best enjoy life and get back to live with him. today i was able to talk with her and figure out what really makes me happy in life and how i am going to really have the best life. she is amazing.

god loves us. he always has and always will no matter how hard we try to push him away or simply ignore him for a while, he welcomes us back with open arms. its hard to think that there were times when i forgot he was even there. but i know he understands and will bring us down, so that he can lift us higher. he loves us with an infinite love. and i love him.

i saw this quote today that summed my entire morning up. "challenges are events in life, not life itself." i used to think that way. but after much conversation with my amazing mom and the dad upstairs, life is good and is going to get so much better :)

Froyo

We love froyo! :) Yogurt Bliss how we love you too! :)

I love my nieces! They are like little mini-me's!

mmmmm.... Sprinkles! :)

And of course you know where Brayden is...

He has been so grumpy so we decided to leave him...

we thought it was funny.

Apparently he is stupid

Heavenly Father loves me.

I left work five minutes early because I had to go grocery shopping and get dinner ready for when Tazz gets home from the Temple. I hit the freeway and was on my way home pretty fast because there wasn't too much traffic. I usually take the PG exit but for some reason I didn't get over to the lane to exit. I could have but didn't so I missed it. I would just get off the Lindon exit now. Once I passed the PG exit the traffic slowed way down. I saw the police cars race past and thought I would be stuck forever. It moved slowly, but kept moving. I finally got to the exit, after really only about three minutes, where there was no crash, nothing holding up traffic and it was now moving smoothly. Dumb. So I get off the exit and it is heavy traffic on the streets so it still takes me a while to get through. I could have taken a back road that would have been faster, but I decided not to and made it up to the intersection by Albertsons. I turned onto State Street and then made it home. Gosh that took forever. I went inside and grabbed some money, checked the mail and headed back to state street to go to Albertsons. I reached the intersection by Kneaders and noticed the police men directing traffic. I looked towards Albertsons and there had to be about 6 Ambulances, firetrucks and a billion police cars. They were shutting down half of state street too. It looked bad but I really couldn't see all that was happening....

Thats when it hit me. If I had taken the PG exit or the back roads, possibly just used my card instead of getting money, or even not checked the mail, I would have been right in the middle of what had happened. I missed it by a matter of minutes. The Lord is really looking out for me and my family. It was even better that I knew my parents were safe, Tazz was safe at the Temple and non of my loved ones would have been in the area.

That moment when you could have gotten off the correct exit but didn't because you had a simple thought not to.... that is feeling the spirit.

maybe i should blog today.

fact: i did indeed get braces.
lie: i love them with all my heart.
honest truth: they are fine, managable and will be completely worth it.

fact: i did send off Cam's letter today, which is considered late.
lie: i got the most amazing letter today.
honest truth: no letter today and we will both be fine with our letters coming late.

fact: i am spending hours uploading songs to itunes and the nooks.
lie: i have enough music.
honest truth: why don't we have background music playing everywhere we go like in the movies? i will make sure i remember that for when i make my own world.

fact: i find myself obsessed with frozen yogurt.
lie: i worked out today.
honest truth: i should have worked out but, i would rather stay in sweats and eat yummy food today.

fact: my parents are going to hawaii.
lie: i am going with them!
honest truth: i am seriously considering packing up my things and heading out to somewhere warm where i can lay out on the beach and play tennis as much as i want.

life as we know it.

wow, yes it has been a record time since I blogged so many updates coming your way this instant.

one. the hair. so it didn't turn out exactly like the picture... well nothing like it actually. we didn't realize how light my hair was at the beginning so we decided not to put any dark in it and in the end it became basically all blonde with a few caramel pieces on the top. but i absolutely love it. my mom is right, i am a true blondie. and i am loving having my blonde hair back. it suits me. note to self and all readers: if i ever, EVER have the desire to die my hair dark again. do not allow me to do so. i always just spend the time and hair particles dying it back blonde so lets just learn now and keep moving forward with the blonde hair on my head.

two. i will not share many details but this must be written for history, never give returned missionaries the benefit of the doubt if they continue being weird after the first week. if that seems to be the case, it is most likely that is how they will stay. i know this first hand and after such a horrible experience i will not being hanging out with such RM, or any other of Cam's mission friends from now on. its all just better that way.

three. new years resolutions. this year i am finding a lot more motivation than most, possibly because I don't have a choice! there are things that need to get done and oh trust me, they will get done. slowly but surely. i will say that i did not eat my best today, but tomorrow is definitely a new day.

four. i love this man. and he is wonderful. and we love each other. no new news there.

five. last night was amazing in a sense. my family is simply incredible. staying up till around 2 in the morning reading scriptures and just being happy and feeling the spirit. nothing is better than that! I am so grateful for the relationship i have with my brother, the sweet spirit my mom has and the way my daddy honors his priesthood. i have the dream family and i am so proud!

six. i bought a tennis raquet. yes, i realize it is january, but do you see any snow? nope, okay so we are still good. I am so excited to start using it! I also want to try a few other things like rock climbing and overcoming my fears. just have to schedule everything in!

seven. so there is this goal that i am going to stick to. that is doing something every night and not just sitting on the couch or reading. this is going to make time fly just so much faster! yay for planners haha.

eight. i get braces this week. thursday to be exact.... i am so freaking excited!!! i just want it to be tomorrow haha i really just can't wait!! ah! haha i know i am weird but the sooner i get them, the sooner i get them off!!! woot!

well that is all i can think of right now. i promise better blogging from now on!

Christmas

Christmas was absolutely wonderful this year! Best one yet! :) But what can be better when you have the best family and every reason in the world to be happy?

Here are a few of the 2011 Christmas highlights:

You can't have Christmas Eve without new Christmas Jammies! I love how my parents always try to convince us that we are getting something different every year. But yes, the comfy jammies :) Pretty sure mine beat everyone by a long shot! Most comfortable PJ's ever! And Tazz sporting the Jordan wear.

Christmas morning! 6AM! Yes, our parents still love us! We both couldn't sleep the entire night. Me and Tazz have this tradition where every Christmas Eve he sleeps on my floor and we never ever sleep. It's Christmas and just happens that way.

We set our alarms and don't get out of bed until they ring. Then I leave the waking up the parents to him. Then we sit on the top of the stairs and wait till they get all ready and it usually takes them forever while we are inching our way down the stairs. Then mom goes to see if Santa came, lets us know he did and then we run down the stairs.

I love it!

Tazz looks so awake!

This is Tazz, Christmas morning, with his TSwift poster on his door. He loves her.

All our presents under the tree!!

Mom and Dad got me a nook!! Woot Woot so wonderful! I can't wait to start reading on it. What can I say? I am a true electronic Junky. Call me nerd, it's fine.

Tazz loved his new amazing outfielder's glove! It was so nice!

You all should have seen him freak out when he saw these!! Him and his fashion obsession when it comes to baseball is a little weird. But he loved them and was wearing them most of the morning!

Me and Mom's Nooks we got each other! She was so surprised and I love mine! Mine is the Color and hers is the Tablet.

Cinnamon Rolls and Hamburger Patties for Christmas breakfast every year!!! Yes, I know it sounds so weird! But so freaking good. And since all my family and friends like to tell my secret anyways... here it is... I do in fact eat my cinnamon rolls with ketchup. I love it. Don't judge! haha. I found out where this tradition came from this year.

My dad loves cinnamon rolls and long before my existence he went through a hamburger phase where he just wanted them all the time for everything. So my mom made him a hamburger patty to go with his cinnamon roll. Then my dad couldn't have all the cholesterol as often as he was eating that combination so it became the Christmas specialty.

What a great tradition from my typical father haha.

My wonderful quesadilla maker from the best little brother ever! Gosh I am addicted to these things and so for lunch we tried it out and oh my gosh so amazing!!! I am in love/addicted! haha.

After opening presents and a fast breakfast we went over to Kellie's house to watch her open her big "surprise!" So exciting. I still remember how it was when we surprised mom with her car and this was just like it! She had no clue that mom and Sterling had gotten her the Camera of her dreams! She opened the boxes as we all were so excited and recording. Then she saw it! She started crying as she slowly peeled back the rest of the wrapping paper. She couldn't believe it! What a memorable moment. "I never thought I would own one of these" she said. She finally put the box down and gave Sterling the biggest hug. Everyone bawling! She was basically hyperventilating. But it was so great to be there and watch. A small video may be coming up soon.

We all went to church and that was great to just be there on the Lord's day! And I wore my cute new ruffle skirt that I love so much! Such a great day at church with the family!

When we got home we made pumpkin pies and I made oreo truffles for Cody. Oh and making quesadillas of course! :)

I decided to wear my Pancho that Cam sent me!! Gosh I love that thing hahaha It was on my Christmas List I sent him. We went over to Clint and Jamie's house for dinner with everyone.

Note: Misty and Scott were not there because his dad isn't doing too well so they went to Oregon, but we missed them so much and I hope they had a wonderful Christmas!!

Anyways... Dinner was amazing as always! Chicken Cordon Bleu this time! And I of course stuffed my face full!!! hahaha it was wonderful! :) The highlight of dinner has to be when Grandma accidently swore haha we all couldn't stop laughing! I was able to watch everyone open their presents before I had to head off to Cameron's house! It was so great to be with the family!!

The end of Christmas day was absolutely amazing! I will save that for the next post though... Stay tuned. :)

All in all this was the most amazing Christmas I've had yet!!

I am so extremely blessed to have the friends and family that I have and my knowledge of the Savior and his love for me!

life's long day

you know, at the end of the day family is all that really matters in this world. those you love and love you back unconditionally. i happened to be overly blessed with a family who is strong in the gospel and all gets along for the most part better than any family i know. we forgive, forget and love. we may be kind of dysfunctional at times, but we are pretty above normal when it comes to the world we live in. my parents were the best teachers and parents to raise us in love and righteousness and really we owe everything thing we have to them. what amazing examples! my family is absolutely everything to me. i was also blessed with a family that is not blood but is just as much family to me as those i was raised with. i feel so loved by all around me and so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. im not saying that we are all perfect. we fight, get sick of each other and sometimes can be quite mean to one another, but the love overcomes the struggles and i am so happy to be a part of such a beautiful thing. i am so blessed with the knowledge i have of eternal families and the sealing ordinance. what peace it brings when loved ones pass on. also knowing that i will be with the one i love and all of our family for eternity, what could possibly be better than that? absolutely nothing!

Christmas with the Cox Family

Here is a quick view of episode one. There is much more to come but it needs some work before becoming post worthy.

Me and Cam's cute tree :)

We're pro decorators

I love garland!

my dad puts lights behind bushes

not sure what is happening here

that's just my cute dad