Big NEWS

Derek works down the street from this!
(click above)

Derek got a job! It is all so sudden! This all just happened so now our plans are about to change! Derek was called, interviewed & offered a position in one shot! It is with the Residence Inn Marriott Downtown that he interned with this summer! He will be the Sales Coordinator! He starts this TUESDAY! So guess who is on the move! We are! It is such a blessing but we are laughing because we expected a little vacation time since unemployment is so prevalent. But obviously we are excited to step up to the plate and join the big leagues! haha.

We haven't officially signed everything but I think we found an apt! I love what I see online and the location is perfect since we only have the 1 car. It's on South Temple in Downtown Salt Lake City! I'm so excited to be in the heart of downtown. The negative is that a lot of our friends in Utah are in Provo/Orem, but this works out perfectly for Derek! He is excited to work with people he knows and honored that they thought of him for this position! They have asked him to commit to 18 months at least. So we know where we will be until July 2011! It brings peace to my nerves! :D

I am sorry to a lot of you that we were hoping to travel and see... swing by and planned on bumping into soon, here on the mainland. Looks like you'll have to bump into us in Utah now. So be sure to contact us when you go to temple square!

We are packing on the layers and buying the coats! While shopping here in CaliA for some boots I heard someone on the next isle say, "OH Those are cute boots!" And her sister said, "ya but it's not like we live in Utah!" haha So I went and checked out those boots! A little more hard core. Yup. Bought em! hahaha Oh boy! My fingers are cold just thinking about it...

I have so many pictures to upload and share! I'm sorry I'm slacking. Derek's graduation photos! Packing! Christmas! Fresno with my parents and New Years with Derek's lovely family in Camarillo. We are here in Camarillo for just a few more days then we will meet my parents in Bakersfield. Derek will head up to Utah with our car. Jocelyn & I will hitch a ride with my parents in Bakersfield to Fresno. Then we will repack and fill a Uhaul to hit the road. We will hopefully find enough to furnish our apt! So if you live in Utah or Fresno and have furniture you're thinking of donating to GoodWill let us know first! or wanting to sale. We have a few things but not all we need. Thanks ;>

See you soon... and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

3 year honeymoon

we wish you a merry kissmas and a happy root beer

and the closest video taken...

STOP THE KARMA!

so i don't have the emotional stamina to really blog right now.
today was our last sunday in hawaii. the sand aloha oe to us. i was released from my favorite calling. i have loved this ward, my friends, the relief society, the weather, the experiences! i love the diversity! i love the spirit that is always present.

we have had family here and it has been grand! we have celebrated birthdays and graduations! we have packed and are left with just cleaning. we have given away all our food and sold our last items. we are done here. it's a bittersweet thing. i would make a pro con list to compare but they would both be long and i just dont want to bring all the thoughts to the fore front. we will be staying until the kick us out... because although i am excited to see where our future leads i am holding on the the past to present now!

so, i dont know how it came up, but we were looking for a certain video and it made me want to check out the pictures that i took this day last year. what a difference in jocelyn. what a difference in derek and i. what a fun thing to look at!

i love you 1 and all! thank you for being you. for making my world in hawaii so bright! i will miss you. i look forward to what is next. i will never forget my 3 year honeymoon! derek and i are ready to start our "married life" and grow up.... well, not ready but here it comes!

xoxox god be with you til we meet again.

It was a Happy Birthday!

p.s.

My parents are here! YAY

Derek's parents are on their way for graduation too!

We are so excited to see all the grandparents!!!

It means a lot to Derek to have family here!

(Thanks for coming!)

"Hi!"

17 1/2 months old!

I sang to him at 12:01am with this...

Some cards & gifts

His Birthday Joke Tie

Right after Home Teaching we walked out to find

.... a SURPRISE!!!!!!

Surprise Banana Split bar

He's so handsome!

I love him!!!

A Beautiful Birthday in Hawaii

OUR OHANA

Do you see the silliness?

Zoomed in for you!!!!

Gonna miss the silliness!

Jocelyn loves being outside with PaPa

Shanae's Bday & 14th Ward Christmas Party

Back to Back birthday's!

It will be impossible for me to forget Shanae's birthday

since it is just 2 days before Derek's!

Happy 30th!

Her speech, "I feel young!"

Jones

Jocelyn's FABULOUS nursery leader, Ckaz

Calkins in the Classic Christmas Sweaters!

hee hee

Lili's parents were

STAR STRUCK

Shepardettes, the angle & the star!

Primary did the Nativity!

Soooo cute! "Mary" kept trying to hold "Joseph's" hand.

He wasn't too interested! haha

Then SANTA came!!!!! YAY, right?

Well most of the kids loved that Santa was there!

But Jocelyn was capitalizing on playing with the

nursery toys all to herself because.... NO WORDS NECESSARY!

they say it's your birthday! happy birthday to you!

oh, to put it in words...

i love this man & it is his 27th birthday today.

i am so proud of him! & what he has done while we've been married.

i've loved watching him grow into a man.

i admire his firm & immovable testimony.

his unwavering spirit.

he is the worlds best father! i couldn't ask him to love jocelyn more!

he has dedicated himself & accomplished his goals in education.

he has loved his family with his whole soul.

he jokes away my tears & wipes away my fears.

he fills a room with laughter!

he's an ALL STAR on & off the court.

he ceases to amaze me.

he is my other half.

yes, he does complete me.

i love you, derek!

happy birthday 

Final Sale

We are having an
OPEN HOUSE
Saturday 2-3pm

check out the blog & snag it before it's GONE
Thanks so much!

What's Mine Is Now Yours!
nowyours.blogspot.com

Family Traditions

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

playful banter

ONLiNE SAViNGS

Buying something online? Want a coupon?

Want to print off coupons to save money?

THIS IS WHERE YOU GO! http://www.retailmenot.com/

It's worth a try. I was at Old Navy.com and heard my cousin uses

coupon codes to save a lot of money. So I just googled 'old navy

coupon code.' And so I tried it. The coupon said the value had to

be over $100 and the date showed that it was already expired.

I didn't have $100 worth but I tried it anyways. IT WORKED!

I just saved $14!!!

And they have so many printable coupons for food and so on.

I will never be the same! Just wanted to share!

I love being THRiFTY

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spreading MORE good saving sites: (thanks Tessa!)

Slick Deals . NET
http://slickdeals.net/

Coupon Mom . com
http://www.couponmom.com/

I'm a Google GiRL

I've had this (GOOGLE CHROME WEB BROWSER) for a while 
now and I LOVE IT! I love Google Chrome. There has only been 
1 time that it wouldn't support something i was looking up... but 
that's why we all have at least 2 browsers (Internet Explorer, 
Moxilla Firefox, Safari, ect) right ;> It's new! 

I love Google Chrome! It's clean looking and DIFFERENT! 
User friendly for opening a new tab... it saves your top sites 
(most frequently used) at your home page and you can assign 
it also. It has a Bookmark Bar so you can have EVERYTHING 
you want up top. Just a click away! SO NICE! SO COLORFUL! 
I had Tibi's theme for a while... paisley and now I've got Kate Space 
Colorful stripes! OH it's grand!  Just try it out! I guarantee you'll 
love it! It's the NEW thing! ;>



http://www.google.com/chrome
Download it here. Try it. If you hate it, (WHICH I won't understand but I'll love you still) 
delete it from your computer! Easy as that. 
Questions? I'd be happy to help.

Don't be surprised if I have a pet in the future names GOOGLE! 
I am SO a Google Girl!
= iGoogle, gmail, blogger, google chrome, google maps...

Cheer Up! It takes two

Just watched The Proposal (again) and can't get this song outta my head!
It takes two to make a thing go riiiIIight!
It takes two to make it outta sight!


I keep hearing that guy "whooo YA! WHOOO ya!"
hahaha ENJOY

did the 'Do!

Talk about terrifying! But I did it! And Derek said,
"You should have done that a long time ago!" With a smile.
I'm so glad he likes it! It feels so FREE!
I love shaking my head left and right like the commercials!
I will miss my long hair. I really did like it, but I have had it
long for the majority of my LIFE! It was time for a change.
Chelsea @ 'The Haircut Store' did it! I recommend her!
She was so nice. Cutting lil by lil so I was perfectly happy!

100% Charity. It Never Faileth.

I don't know where to begin...

Tomorrow (Sunday) is our Regional Conference. We were to be honored with President

Monson's presence but unfortunately his wife fell is in the hospital! So he, like a caring 

husband should, stayed home to be with her. We understand but are also so sad we will

miss him. The goal of our stake was to present a note to our dear prophet letting him know

that every member of our ward was home or visit taught and invited to hear our prophets 

voice! And to have a spiritual message & be reminded that we love them! The 

challenge was sincere and worded beautifully. It was an irresistible challenge! All that 

heard it were convicted to do their part. And so we had 1 weeks to finish up. This last week! 

Monday we heard about the change in plans... that the prophet wouldn't be coming but that 

was no reason to end the cause. So our dear friends dedicated themselves to making time

and finding their homes! Making appointments and getting to know each other!

But there were a few. A few that for multiple reasons didn't get taught yet: incorrect contact

information, a miscommunicated change in companionships, and so on. So a few of us were

able to pick up where they left off. We were determined to see our dear sisters. We didn't

want to let the Prophet down, but more importantly we didn't want to leave someone out! So 

tonight we felt a little like this video... to the last hour! (11:35pm) We drove down dark streets

trying to find the right addresses! We google chatted to retrieve correct info! We did do a lot

of talking... but can I tell you something? I am so blessed to have been able to visit so many 

of my new friends. To feel of the spirit hour after hour. To learn about the sacrifices of my sisters.

To hear their love stories and what brought them here. I have more than just a name. I have a 

face. But more than just a face with a name I have more friends. I got to know these sisters. 

We honestly didn't try to rush. We believed we could find everyone. It could be done. If we had 

rushed we would have been done a lot faster, but that wasn't the point. I hope these sisters felt 

loved. I hope they didn't feel like just a number or a percentile. Because, sure. We are all one. 

But it was so much more than that for us.

Thank you sisters, for letting us stop by! For letting us get to know you! For sharing your 

testimonies and laughter with us! I honestly learned more from those 3 talks that Jenny referred 

to than I ever would have if I just read it 1 time. Each sister brought out a different point. Had a 

different perspective and I could see how it applied to them... through their experiences. I was 

reminded of things that I need to work on. I saw their examples! These woman are virtuous! 

They are praise worthy and seeking after these things. Even feeling the spirit from someone 

who prayed in a different language. We had that as a "barrier" (not sharing the same language)

but instead of hearing the words of her prayer I listened to her Spirit. How sweet it was! I know 

that she believes in the gospel. That she loves God! I felt it. I didn't hear it. That is the pure love 

of Christ. These ladies I see every week are phenomenal! 

What else did I learn? We all need to try harder. I know that I could do this again next month 

(it would be hard to coordinate) but it would be selfish of me to not share the Spirit I felt tonight!

Nobility. I am thankful for the organization of Visiting Teaching. I hope you can see the benefits

and love the cause! I am thankful for YOU!

XOXOXoxoXo :D