Oh How I Love my Husband...

Being poor college students is no easy business. You stress about money,

school work, grades, the apartment being clean, bills... all those silly things.

At times it's hard to concentrate on the things that REALLY matter. Tyler is

very good at helping me realize what's most important.. and that is my family..

I am the luckiest girl in the world! Tyler has been so sweet and helpful.
He gives me a sense of balance. Marrying him was the best decision I could've ever
made! He makes me want to be a better person. What more could I ask for? I have
been very blessed. I have never in my life felt neglected of love. Not a lot of people
can say that. SO whoever is reading this I have a little challenge for you:)

Make sure those around you never feel neglected of what is rightfully

theirs... LOVE!!



Easy Chicken Fajita Soup.. I Promise You'll Love it!

Tyler was getting pretty sick of my weekly meals of spaghetti and

taco soup, so I decided to switch it up with some new recipes. I

needed something healthy but hearty enough that it would fill Tyler up!

(Which is almost impossible to do)

I found this Chicken Fajita Soup recipe on allrecipies.com. It's an awesome

website where you can find recipes for someone like me (inexperienced) or

for you fabulous cookers/bakers out there! It also has a handy program

where you can make your weekly menu and it can put together your grocery

list.

Chicken Fajita Soup

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

 1/2 lb. Skinless, Boneless, Chicken Breasts cut into Strips

 1/2 pack fajita seasoning

 1/2 red bell pepper

 1/2 green bell pepper

 1/2 poblano pepper

 1/2 large onion

 1 can (14.5 oz.) fire roasted diced tomatoes

 1 can (15 oz.) seasoned black beans

 1 can (15 oz.) Kidney Beans

14 oz. chicken broth

1. Chop all peppers and onion into desired sizes.

2. Put the Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil in a pan large enough to hold the soup.

3. Add the strips of Chicken into the pan and cook till nearly done. Then add the peppers and onions till they become soft.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients into the pan. Bring to a boil and serve!

*If you don't know what a poblano pepper is don't worry.. I didn't either!! If you shop at WalMart, the poblano peppers are right above the bell peppers.. They look like an  oversized chilli pepper.

Hope you all enjoy the recipe! It's perfect for the recent weather, healthy

and will fill all those hungry bellies. I'm going to be trying a new

meatloaf recipe on Saturday. I will let you know how it turns out!





BYU... Not Sure if I'm a Big Fan... Don't Hate

Once again because of Tyler's job we got some hook ups at the BYU game

last night. We had already had some mediocre tickets but

somehow Tyler talked a guy into letting us sit in the KSL radio booth.

This was our view..

As you can tell our seats rocked! We got free food, nice comfy seats,

nearby bathrooms, perfect air temps and some awesome cougar tails! We both 

were having a blast but for some reason I was stressing out for the 

Radio men. I've always listened to people broadcast games on the radio but 

never realized how difficult it really was and how many people it

involved. However, I'm torn... I can't decide if I'm a BYU or a Utah fan.

Obviously Utah is better because of the game that we all witnessed not too long

ago. But BYU is just awesome and I love the campus. I feel torn. I want

to be a fan of both.. Is that possible?

Sorry about the picture I had to download it off my phone and for some

reason it didn't work too well. These two random men (Mark and Greg) are the

KSL Radio broadcasters. They were both really nice, but I felt like

Greg always cut off Mark!! Which might be his job but I don't know!

The night was going so well until Tyler walked me to my car and we discovered

it was MISSING!!! Don't worry it didn't get stolen.. It got towed because of my lack of

attention to detail. That handicap of mine cost us $175! I tried to lighten

the mood that both Tyler and I were in by saying, "Well at least we will miss the

crazy traffic!" Because of Tyler's reaction I now know that was the worst

thing I could have said.

Other than the car being towed and me feeling very upset about having to pay

$175 for 3 hours of parking, last night was a blast!

Wild Cherry

Because of Tyler's job we got some free tickets to Wild Cherry water park...

We had never even heard of Wild Cherry but we needed to get out and

have some fun so we decided to give it a chance.

Little to say.. we felt a little (or A LOT) out of place. It was filled

with millions of little children and their parents. I felt like everyone was

staring at us like we were pedophiles! Which they probably weren't and

it was probably just Tyler and I feeling a little out of place...

However, I think we can say that besides the weird looks and the water feeling

warm each time we passed little kids, we still had fun. It was nice to get out

of the house and be able to spend some time together.

This is Tyler doing a REALLY good job at trying not to throw a fit..  Let's

just say this whole water park adventure was my idea. He's such a good sport!

Even though the water park was a little lame, and I'm not even sure if it is

called Wild Cherry, I was just happy to be with my cute husband.

Our Favorite Day of the Week....TUESDAY!

Tyler and I were called, by our bishop, to be LDS Representatives for the

 PrimaryChildren's Medical Center. We couldn't ask for a better calling.



Every Tuesday we get to go to the hospital and visit with all the new

LDS patients and their families. If you thought the Notebook was a tear jerker,

times it by a million and you'll get the feeling we get each time we see

these beautiful children. If you know me very well I cry about basically everything.

However, with this calling I have to really work on holding back the tears. These

patients and families really rely on you to be strong.

We have only been two times, but by far this week has been my favorite.

I have never met so many strong spirited people in my life. Nancy adopted her

grandson when he was just a few months old. Due to his poor living conditions

 Kaden has had horrible health since he was a baby.On August 13, his birthday, he was admitted to the hospital because his brain was having a continuous

string of seizures. When we went in today,

he hadn't slept for four days...Nancy asked Ty and Dallin to give him a

blessing, which they did. Anyways, I want to focus more on Nancy. She did not

want us to feel bad for her or Kaden. What she said to me was, "Heavenly

Father sees him as perfect, and that is what he is... Perfect."

All she had was positive things to say. I admire Nancy... She has such a

strong foundation. It made me think of the times when I thought my world

was just "too stressful". I guess It has been nothing compared to Kaden or

Nancy's trials. Altogether I feel spiritually fed just being around Nancy.

She is definitely a light in the dark world.



The Girls Birthday!

While the Curtis family was visiting we celebrated Megan's, Tiffanie's,

and Cindy's birthday! For some reason I volunteered to make the cake..

 

As you can see it turned out HORRIBLY!! The cake started to fall apart,

the icing was melting, and not all the cup cakes fit. It was a

serious disappointment! Even though it was extremely ugly it tasted delicious!

Even Shelby thought so..

Hopefully the girls had a good birthday! (Even thought the cake was ugly)

It was fun to be able to celebrate with them. Hopefully we can do it

next year!!

Happy Trails!!

One thing I love about Salt Lake is, one minute you're in the city

the next you're in the mountains hiking and enjoying your surroundings. Ty

and I decided that we needed to have some fun.

The trail said it was only 2.8 miles.. it felt like the hike would never end.

I was dying! It was so hilarious. Other than being completely

out of shape, I COULDN'T BREATHE! I wanted to turn back and head to the car

so bad.

In the description it talked about this amazing view of the valley so I

had to keep going.

This is what I look like when I'm about to die.

We finally made it to the top!!

The view was perfect and so worth the hike!

Weekend with the Curtis Family

Tyler's mom and sister's came to Salt Lake the other weekend for their

cousins wedding. Friday we drove up to Roy to his sister Tiffanie's house and went

to the Tree House Museum. It was an absolute bast!



This place was like a kid's dream come true. It had everything; a cowboys and

Indian spot, pretend fire fighters, a music section, a USA spot.. it seriously

was amazing! Watching Brooklyn and Shelby was my favorite.

Their cute faces constantly had a smile.

As you can tell we really enjoyed ourselves. If you have kids I highly advise

this place! They will play in there for hours. Brooklyn played so hard

that she was struggling with walking around and perfered being on the floor

 laying down. Once we got home the girls had

fallen asleep in the car!

After the Tree House Museum we went to Tyler's cousin's reception. It was

good to meet some relatives that I had never seen before! All of them were so nice

and welcoming!

It was good to see and spend time with Tyler's mom and sister's! I know it

meant a ton to Tyler!



School is for Fools :)

Today was Tyler's first of school. Even though we live right by the

University he still has a pretty long walk. I told him to just take the bus but

for some reason he doesn't listen to me! That's nothing new..

Isn't he so handsome? Well if you don't think so, the whole U of U girls track team
thought so. He was actually excited for school to start and when

he came home he was just gleaming. I think this whole medical

school idea is a good idea for him. I think if it was his choice he'd be a professional

student for the rest of his life. I'm so proud of him! At least one of

us has to enjoy school!

What We Call Home

Tyler and I just moved to Salt Lake City and LOVE it! Everyone in our

ward has been so welcoming and our little "court" is so fun. The

 new apartment is tiny but it's the perfect size for the two of us. Tyler has a

job at KSL and will be doing tours through out the building.

This is our kitchen. I've never not had a dishwasher before. However, it has

become a blessing in disguise. Tyler drys while I wash. We are slowly

but surely learning how to work together with out driving each other crazy!!



Our living room/dining room. We have no extra bedrooms in the house,

but if you need a place to crash for the night we have a futon! :)

This is my first time living in a house with cinder block walls. I guess there is a

first for everything. I've decided I like them.. adds more texture to

the space! :)

Our new entertainment center/storage. It by far is my favorite piece of

furniture in our home!

This picture is to show you our nice a/c unit.. Some how I failed to

see on the apartment website that there is no a/c! When we first moved in our

apartment was as hot as Death Valley, or at least it felt like it. We then

had to hurry and find some units on Craigslist so we could actually

sleep! We did at one time have cardboard and a Disneyland

blanket over the window. I decided that we needed to upgrade so the

nice maintenance men custom cut some wood and I went and bought some pretty

curtains!!



Dining room.. where we eat all my fabulous homemade cooking!

If you're wondering why the picture only has our bed.. it's because that's all that

fits in our room. Sad day.. but it makes it easy to keep clean.

All together I absolutely LOVE where we are. I couldn't be anymore happy then

I am now. The poor days are starting but I have so much to be grateful

for!!

Tyler's First Time to the Zoo

In the 22 years of Tyler's existence he has not once set foot

in a zoo! I thought this was nonsense, so after talking to all the school advisers,

looking for somewhere to live (All the boring stuff), my cousins

and I took him to the zoo.

He loved it! It was enjoyable to watch him. His cute face almost

reminded me of a kid when they first walk into Disneyland.

Unfortunately, he got a massive headache which ruined our fun. :(

He blamed it on the heat and lack of water, I blamed it on

the AWFUL stench of the Reptile exhibit.





I think my favorite part of the whole zoo thing was actually getting

to spend time with my husband! Sometimes life gets

too busy and it's hard to find time for each other. He is the best

ever and I'm so glad I got to help him experience something new!



My First Business Adventure

Every since I've been little I've wanted to be an Entrepreneur. I've wanted

to be in charge of how much money I made a month or how much

work I wanted to do. For the past few months I've been trying to think of these

brilliant business ideas, but all my "brilliant" ideas were already taken

and they weren't so "brilliant" at all. Then one day

all the brain juices stated flowing. I knew:

1. I'm going to cosmetology school.

2. I LOVE making women feel empowered and beautiful.

3. Being outgoing and social isn't a problem for me.

4. I wanted to be involved in something that will never die down even

when the economy stinks!

Most women love make up and even during the great depression, everything else

failed except for the beauty industry. Lets be real, the

majority of women won't even leave their house with out, at the least,

mascara. So now I am officially selling....

Yup... that's right! Mary Kay! I'm so excited about selling this product

and getting to know all sorts of women and their stories! The one

thing I really like about this business was the morals, values, and standards it has.

The company believes that women should have their priorities in this way:

1. God

2. Family/Friends

3. Business

And when the priorities aren't in this order, nothing will work out as smoothly

as they would otherwise. This is an awesome company and

I'm so excited to be apart of it!



6 Months Ago....

Wow.. Time does fly when you're having fun! A little over six months ago Tyler and I were married in the St. George temple. He was the best decision I've ever made.

Tyler and I were engaged around a month after we started dating. Crazy huh? Some say there is no way you can know someone that quickly. Others say we'll be divorced in 5 years because we "rushed it". I say suck it! :) 

Even when Ty and I have a rough day, there is no one in the world that I'd rather be with. Every morning when I wake up, I wake up to a man who is wonderful, loving,

talented, handsome, intelligent and most importantly... a man who will love me for eternity.

Marriage is definitely hard and takes a lot of effort and patience but I can't even imagine how my life would be with out him.. Sorry guys this is super sappy but I think

it's important to be that way every now and again. It reminds me how truely blessed I am.

 I get to spend eternity with my best friend.

Words from Tyler: Ever since Chelsea has started writing on this blog I have been

thinking when I would get a turn to write.  First off Chelsea

is the best person I have ever met.  I knew she was the one really quickly

 because shemade me strive to be a better individual each day. 

   Each morning I wake up and am so happy that she is by my side.  I hope that each person can find their true love like I have.  I would do anything for her and I know

 that she would do the same for me.  Even when we are having a little

argument or we disagree about something I know that it will all work out

 and that she will still love me for who I am.  I support her in everything she does

and will do because I know that it is the right thing to do.  She helps me stay motivated by her words and sometimes by a kick in the butt if I need it. 

Six months down and many happy years to come!

Expect the Unexpected

In my case.. I didn't expect the unexpected. My (second or third:) five year plan

was once again diminished. I had applied to the U and even paid the $75

late application fee. Although I knew I wanted to go to college, I had

NO idea what I wanted to go into. If you know me very well you'd know I almost

always know what I want to do with my life. However, for the last few months

I have been bouncing back and forth from Elementary Ed., to a Psychologist,

 to Exercise Science; but nothing felt right.

Then one day I woke up and it hit me.. I now know what I want to do.

Random people I found on the Internet:)

Yes.. I know big shock huh?! I am going to be going to Taylor Andrews

Hair Academy in West Jordan. I think it's something that I'm

really going to enjoy and definitely a trade that I'll be using the rest of my life.:)



Back Tracking

I've decided to do a little back tracking just so everyone can slowly catch up to what's going on in our lives. I could go all the way back to December when we got married,

however; I don't really feel like doing that.:) So I just decided to start with a mile

stone in Tyler's education. He received his associates this May and was able

to walk with his sister Niccole.

Geoff, Niccole, Tyler and I after they officially graduated!

We had the privilege to hear from President Thomas S. Monson for the ceremony. It was

such a blessing to actually hear him in person and be able to personally witness a true

prophet in action. I had never seen a prophet in person before. I swear the spirit that surrounded

him filled the whole room, little to say I was very touch by his presence and  the words he spoke.  He spoke a lot about attitude and how if we are constantly trying to

be positive happiness will follow. :)

Tyler's Family (Excluding Brooklyn and Curtis)

The whole weekend was filled with Curtis fun, and some Curtis fits.:) Tiffanie (Tyler's oldest sister)  

 and Trent (her husband) came down to support Tyler and Niccole. It meant a lot to

Tyler that his sister would come down and spend some time with us on his special day. That's

the great thing about family... You know they'll always be there for you!

Graduates and the parents

I love my husband and am so proud of him. He's such a hard worker and is constantly

helping me be a better person. Now that he has his associates he'll be working towards his bachelors at the U. After the dreadful MCAT and hours of volunteer work, homework and stress 

he'll finally be able to start med school. He's passionate about helping people and 

that's what he'll be able to do!  Just about everyday we say,

"ONLY 7 MORE YEARS!!"

Seven years of sacrificing and scrimping money sounds good to me. After all, in the long

run it will all be worth it! He'll get to help people and I'll be able to

enjoy his pay check. ;) We've already put together a family wish list. The list contains all

the fun toys and presents we want to give to our families someday! If you're

family and wondering what's on the list for you.. don't ask! It's a surprise:)