4 Years Ago........

4 years ago, on August 29th 2005, it was the first day of classes at Utah State University. 

4 years ago on the top of the stairs outside of the TSC I was approached by a really cute guy. 

4 years ago today, I met my husband.   

I remember walking home that day with butterflies in my stomach, thinking about the gorgeous guy that came up to talk to me and I hoped that we would end up hanging out.  If only I had known on that day what the future held for us. 

I love you Justin, and I am eternally glad that you found me on that day!

* A picture of us in our early dating days*

P.S. 20 years ago on this day my baby and only sister was born.  Happy 20th birthday Julie!  I love you so much!

Gomez and Blind Pilot

I know that I am way behind in blogging, but I thought I would post about a concert that we went to on Wed the 5th. Justin and I went to go see one of our favorite bands, Gomez, in concert at the Murray Theater. It was his third time seeing them, and my second.

The concert started with a band called Blind Pilot who we had never heard of. They were so good and we have since bought their album and we are in love with it. The album is called "Three Rounds and a Sound". It is really nice and chill. We think that it is kind of Death Cab meets Jack Johnson.

Then Gomez came on and it was amazing! We were in the very front, right up to the stage. They sounded awesome and we loved every minute of it. After the concert was finished they gave out their set lists to a few people up front and I got one of those. Later as we headed outside we walked past the back of the building to get to our car and there were a few members of the band standing in the back doors talking and then one of the lead singers was by our car talking on his cell phone. We discussed going up to them and getting their autographs but we then decided that they were people who just got done working and were just relaxing and we didn't want to go and bug them.

All in all it was a perfect concert! We found a new band that we are really loving, and we got to see one of our favorites up close and hear a lot of our favorite songs. It was an amazing night!

*Sorry the Pics are weak. They are from our phones.*

Blind Pilot

Gomez Pics

Give me an "S"

That's right, give me an "S" for Slacker. Make that a scarlet "S" while you're at it. Since we arrived in Utah I have been horrible at keeping up with our blog, and it is not because we have been up to nothing, we have actually been quite busy. I am going to attempt to do an update of all the things we have been up to in the end of May, June and up until this point of July.

May

Justin began his internship at LDS hospital and Intermountain Donor Services. He is gone all day and I found out that there are all sorts of interesting things on when you have 300 channels(we had about 10 in Minnesota). Justin is also in heaven because my Grandma is a huge baseball fan and so they have this extra baseball package on TV so we get EVERY single baseball game. Teams play 162 games a year and he actively follows the Dodgers and the Twins. He has never been happier, I have been replaced.

June

* REAL Salt Lake game with a performance by David Archuleta(Justin's favorite part!)

This is my brothers son Kaden.

*Justin had a Mission Reunion. He served in the Ribeirao Preto, Brazil Mission. He has been home for 6 years!

*My hubby turned 27 on June 13th! He is the most wonderful person in this world and I should've devoted an entire post to him but hopefully a few pictures will do. I love you Justin!

He celebrated by going on a hike in the morning with his dogs who adore him. We went to Hamilton's for dinner so he could get a big juicy steak!

*On an incredibly stormy day we went to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house. The Temple is absolutely gorgeous and it was a neat experience to go.

* And of course one of my favorite things this summer has been getting to see my nephew Kaden and getting to babysit him.

* One of the highlights of our time in Utah so far was when Justin's dad came home from Iraq, he had been there since January. He came home and we went to dinner with them and then he and my mother in law Carol went to a condo in Park City for a few days. Then all of us kids met up with them in Park City. We had a blast as a family and there was even a big surprise planned. Shawn, Krystal, and Victoria flew in from Maryland and surprised the whole fam(minus me, Justin, and mom). Justin picked them up at the airport and it was pretty exciting when they arrived. Grandpa Brad was sure excited to see his only grandchild.

July

* We kicked off July with a huge Buehler family reunion at the family ranch in Malad Idaho. It was a weekend full of four-wheeling, BBQ eating, catching up, fireworks and loads of fun. Justin's mom also planned an amazing scavenger hunt and a duck race which were so much fun. We had a blast even though we got fried in the sun. It was great to see all the Buehler's again!

The Buehler Cousins

Justin, the dogs, and the beautiful spring.

Check out our burns and Justin's dirty face!

We decorated our ducks for the race. Ninja turtle duck

and Harry Potter Duck.

* On July 9th I turned the ripe old age of 24! I picked Justin up from work and he took me to a park to open presents and got me a piece of red velvet cake. I got spoiled! Then we went to the gateway and shopped a little, then we went and saw "The Proposal" which I loved. After the movie we went to an amazing dinner at P.F. Changs. I dream about their lettuce wraps! It was a great birthday thanks to my wonderful hubby! And when we came home I had another delicious red velvet birthday cake waiting for me thanks to my Grandma and Grandpa! It was a great day!

* The weekend of my birthday I got spoiled yet again. Lets call this my "Logan Birthday". I got another dinner at Callaways(amazing), another birthday cake with Justin's family, and more presents. I am one lucky girl to have so many people celebrate my birthday with me!

(pics of this to come)

*And last but NOT least, my mom and sister just arrived in Utah! We are going to have a lot of fun having lots of girl time.

OH!!!! And my little sis and I went and saw Harry Potter and it was AMAZING! I loved it.

That is all...

I think I am now caught up!

Phew...........

Made it!

We made it to Utah safe and sound. Our car ran great and we had no complications.  The 1300 mile, 2 day trip was pretty long and mostly boring but it is great to be here with family.

On day 1 of our trip we left Minnesota around 9 a.m. and made it to Mount Rushmore in keystone, South Dakota around 6 that night. We did stop along the way at the apparently "World Famous" Wall drug for some free ice water and an amazing homemade doughnut. We stayed at Mt. Rushmore for about 2 hours and then headed to our hotel in Custer, SD for the night.

The next morning we awoke and drove and drove some more. We stopped at Martins cove for a little bit and took in some church history, and finally pulled into the Salt Lake valley around 10 that night.  We were welcomed by my Grandparents with a plate of cookies, a gallon of milk for our fridge, and to Justin's delight, baseball on our big flat screen t.v. in our basement apartment.  

Our best decision made the entire trip was to download podcasts and listen to them on the way.  We downloaded most of them from "The Onion" and "Stuff you should know". It saved our sanity and we really learned a lot of interesting things like why orange juice tastes bad after you brush your teeth, bizarre ways to die, theories on deja vu, interesting facts about Thomas Jefferson, the vikings, when people think the world is going to end, etc....  It was very entertaining and I highly suggest to anyone that is going to be in the car for a long period of time to find a great podcast and download like crazy!

We are currently in Logan at Justin's parents house relaxing with family and seeing some movies. We saw Star Trek last night and it was better then I thought it would be, but there were some pretty nerdy moments.  I have no interest in anything Star Trek related but it really did exceed my expectations.  I think the super attractive people and awesome special effects may have had something to do with it.

I also went with my sister in law Brittany to see 17 again today.  It was SO good. I LOVED it.  I think it is one of the cutest movies I have seen in a long time. 

We took a ton of pictures and I am going to post them in a little bit.  Time is short but I just wanted to post quick to say that we made it to Utah and are happy to be here!

And we're off!

Well the day has arrived and we are heading to Utah in just a few minutes! We are saying goodbye to our lovely apartment, packing up the car and checking and double checking our list of things to bring!  

So long Minnesota.......... for a few months at least.

Dear Mom...

To my Mother Jane

Dear Mom-

I hope you had a great Mother's Day! I wish we could have been there to celebrate with you! I just wanted to thank you for all the millions of things that you have done for me throughout my life.  I do not know where I would be without you.  You are my best friend and I am so glad that we have so much in common.  I am grateful that I am turning into my mother more and more each day. I would love nothing more then to be the kind of mother that you were to me.  You have always been a great example to your children.  You have more strength then anyone I know, yet you are tender and comforting. Thank you for always cheering me on and supporting my hopes and dreams.  Thank you for always listening, no matter the subject, and thank you for always being interested.  You are the first person I want to call when something exciting happens in our life. I miss you every day and wish that we could spend more time together, but hopefully someday we will all be close again. You are my mom and no matter how old I get I will always need you.  I can't wait for the day when I become a mother and you can teach me even more.  Thanks for all you do for me and Justin.  We love and appreciate you so much!

Love, Jessie

To my Mother in law Carol

Dear Mom-

We wish that we could have celebrated Mother's day with you guys.  Skype will have to do for now, but only for one more week!  We are excited to see you guys soon!  I want to personally thank you for the amazing mother you have been to me the past couple years.  I also want to thank you for the amazing mother that you have been to Justin for the past 26 years.  He would not be the amazing person that he is without such a wonderful mother.  He is an incredible person who treats me with such love, kindness, and respect and those are things that boys learn in their homes, from their parents.  Thank you for being my mother and taking good care of me when my family was so far away.  During my first few years in Logan it was hard to not have my family around but when I met Justin I became part of yours and I thank you for that.  You are not just my mother in law, but also my friend.  I am so grateful that we have so much in common and that we have such a fun time when we are together.  We are so excited for the summer!  Thank you again for all you have done for me.  I love you so much!

Love, Jess 

Justin is off canoeing and camping somewhere around Canada.  He says he is going to prove his love and appreciation to you by conquering the great beyond! 

Happy (belated) Mother's Day! 

Bingo De Mayo!!

This is a little story of how we celebrated Cinco De Mayo.  

The day was uneventful and full of the usual same old routines.  Justin went to school and meetings and I went off my job until 9:30.  It did not feel like the festive, flavorful day that Cinco De Mayo should be.  When I arrived home from work to find Justin in his usual spot at the kitchen table working on homework (a.k.a reading baseball stats on ESPN) we both declared that we were indeed starving and deserved a night out in honor of the aforementioned holiday.  Now for those of you that are accustomed to our frugal ways you will not be surprised to learn that we headed off to TGI Fridays for the following reasons. 

1) We have a "give me more stripes" rewards card through them and therefore we were emailed a free appetizer for Cinco De Mayo.

2) They have an amazing deal going on where all of their full sized sandwiches and salads are just 5 dollars.

3) In there, "It's always Friday", and that is just the kinda scene we were in the mood for.

We settled ourselves in close proximity to the bar so that we could be close to the t.v's to see what game they had on. It was hockey on every t.v. There was an NBA playoff game on and we were watching hockey.  That is Minnesota for you.  We ordered the usual waters to drink.  After brushing off the deflated look the waitress gave us after ordering non-alcoholic beverages on this Spanish holiday, in the bar area nonetheless, we made things worse by presenting her with our coupon for our free appetizer. Lets just say that we did not see her again for 20 minutes.  I know this because I was staring at my watch and giving Justin updates every 5 minutes that went something like this, "I can not believe it has been x minutes and she is not back. This is unacceptable service and I should know since I have so much serving experience...........". Poor Justin, this went on until she finally returned after our appetizer (that was brought to us by someone else) had been long gone and our beverages were no more then ice cubes.  We gave her our order which was one salad to share.  Take that server girl. 

In all honesty I was irritated, and that is putting it nicely.  Her service to us should be no less just because we are trying eat out on a budget.  Our meal was finally brought to us, yet again by someone else, and we were ready for it, forks in hand.  

Now this is the part of our story where a little thing called Karma comes into play.

The night had not been great so far. It was almost 11p.m. and we were just eating our dinner, but just then a funny thing happened.  I found something in my food, yet again.  If you do not know what I am talking about, please refer back to this post. It was an expiration date sticker, and to make things even better the expiration date was yesterday.  Now to us this was no big deal.  It was a only a piece of paper and lets face it, we eat way more questionable things out of our own fridge all the time.  But when that "waitress" came to ask us how our meal was we let her know that there was a sticker in it.  For the first time all night I saw a glimpse of humanity spark from her as she apologized and went to get things taken care of.  Right after she left there was an announcement made that Bingo would be starting soon.  We LOVE Bingo. We suck at Bingo but we love it still.  A guy came over and asked us if we wanted to play, and when we discovered that it was free, of course we were in. 

Our waitress came back and explained that our salad would be of no charge and gave us a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert on our next visit.  We were still hungry so we ordered another salad.  By this time, bingo was starting, we were eating a fresh new sticker free salad and the world seemed right again.

Then Justin won bingo.  Thats right my friends, Karma.  And what was the prize? Cold, hard, cash.  It would've been 20 bucks but another person called Bingo as well so we won 10 dollars.  We were happy as could be with our great meal and prize money, could the night get any better?  Yes. Justin won round 2 of Bingo.  We couldn't believe it.  We won another coupon for a free appetizer or dessert.  We played 3 more rounds and even though we didn't win, it no longer mattered.  Like a 4 year old on a soccer team, we were just playing for fun.  

Lets do a little recap shall we?

Waters- Free

Appetizer- Free

Salad- 5 dollars plus sticker makes it free

New Salad- 5 dollars (I don't think she should've charged us for a replacement salad but I was beyond caring when we got our bill)

That makes a total of 5 dollars.

But wait...........

Free appetizer for sticker in salad

10 dollars in Bingo winnings

Free appetizer for Bingo winning

That makes a pretty nice profit if you ask me!

So don't worry kids, if you find yourself stuck on Cinco De Mayo with an awful waitress who shuns you for being cheap and refuses to refresh your measly waters, Karma will step in and strategically place a sticker in your food and then it will go the extra mile and allow you to win Bingo twice. 

Thank you Karma and happy belated Cinco De Mayo!

*Note from Justin* 

He is sorry he forgot to wish you all a happy Star Wars Day....

May the 4th be with you.

Get it? 

I Spy something in my food.

B I N G O

Winner Winner!