tarin&nathan

we're alive!

2011-12-01T07:51:00.002-07:00

You wouldn't know it by following our blog, but Nathan and I are actually still alive! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! I need to stop making promises about catching up and just be straight with y'all- I would love to post every special moment of our lives on here and keep you up to date but with our schedules I just don't see that as being realistic! We're busy people. If our full time jobs weren't enough, our pottery biz has been keeping us on our toes, for sure.

Since my last post, we've done over 250 large carved pumpkins, almost 300 small carved pumpkins, more than 60 turkeys, footballs, and snowmen- plus we added a reindeer and Santa! And that's just our carved items! Each carved piece- including pouring, carving, and cleaning takes about 30-45 minutes- so as you can see- THAT'S why I haven't had much time to blog.

So let's see if I can briefly get you caught up on the things that have happened in our life- besides pottery in the last 3 months.

September

Dave and I both had a birthday! I am now a quarter of a century and Dave is 2 (no longer a puppy!) Nathan got me beautiful flowers that were delivered to my office. He's such a sweetie!

The sun started coming up later and going down earlier which has thrown off my internal clock.

I went to California with my aunties to see the Tim Burton exhibit. It was amazing and awesome and a welcomed break from work. It was so much fun having a girls weekend, that I decided to plan another one in February with my sister!

October

Nathan and I went to a Diamondbacks play off game. We had fantastic seats and it was one of the most incredible starts to a game I have ever seen. We are talking about getting a small season ticket package for next year.

I got a kidney stone! My first one since Nathan and I got married. 4 mm! It was the first one that I was able to catch and actually see for myself. It was nasty looking little thing- super jagged- no wonder it hurt so bad! The experience made us grateful for the awesome insurance Nathan gets through his work.

My best friend, Kassi, got engaged! She's getting married on leap day next year. So since I got this news I have been assisting in wedding planning and assembling an AMAZING bachelorette party in her honor.

I had the opportunity to participate in this mind blowing thing called the Landmark Forum. There will a separate post about this. I don't have time to explain it all right now, but it absolutely changed my life. Seriously.

Also in October, I signed up for and started receiving all kinds of catalogs. I know that this is unimportant and insignificant to you- but I am really excited about it. Maybe it's just getting things in the mail with my name on it-I dunno- but I just like looking at all the things!!!

We didn't do anything super awesome for Halloween- we passed out good candy (candy bars!) and when it was gone we turned off the porch light and snuggled up in bed and watched a movie.

November

Nathan had a birthday! We went out that evening with the whole gang to Red Robin and then went bowling. Nathan did pretty well- I was horrible! It was a good time though- even though I was super tired.

We participated in a holiday boutique- which kept me busy painting all month. Unfortunately we didn't sell much at the boutique which made my painting efforts seem wasted. But everything turned out cute nonetheless. AND Nathan got an iPhone so we can run credit cards. Mostly the iPhone is great for playing words with friends and watching netflix though.

I started trying out doing Bikram Yoga in the morning. Not gonna lie- getting up at 5:00am to make the 6:00 class is difficult and I haven't made it as often as I'd like. I am recommitting myself to going though!

A drugged out crazy person came into my office one evening when I was there alone and freaked me the heck out. I had to call 911... I think it's the only time I have ever had to. It was crazy! He came in thinking someone was trying to kill him. He tired to hide behind our copy machine and wound up leaving his shoes behind. (It's a much longer story, but that's the quick version!)

We spent Thanksgiving morning on Tempe Town Lake with my parents and my sister and her little family. It was way fun and I vote for that to be a Thanksgiving tradition!! Then later I made my first batch of homemade potatoes from scratch and we had dinner at Nathan's parents house. My parents got to come too- so that was pretty cool to get to spend the holiday with both sides at the same place!

Also on Thanksgiving we found out that we are going to get another niece or nephew! Yup, Marvin & Sarah are expecting their second little one- which of course, raised the question "When are you two going to have one?" My answer to one and all "Eventually." Obviously not right now. It is in the plans though....eventually!

Black Friday was awesome. I got to shop with almost every member of my family at some point during the day. I am super psyched about the gifts I got for Nathan. I am so excited that we aren't completely poor this year and that I was able to get him something good that he will enjoy!

So there you have it! Those are all the things that I would have blogged about, had I had time to blog! I will try to better now that things have slowed down a bit. Maybe I will even try blogging from the iPhone. I am really excited that even when I forget my camera that Nathan will always have a good one in his pocket! Hopefully having a camera handy will result in more pictures which result in more blogging! Love you all! Happy Holidays!

it's that time of year again...

2011-08-22T07:09:00.008-07:00

I just wanted to let you know that my blogging intentions ARE good, I have just been a bit busy these days! See:

It's that time of year again! Custom carved season! And what you see above is literally just a small, small fraction of the pumpkins we have done so far- and it's only August.

My front room has been over run by cleaning and carving tables...

...and there are pumpkins everywhere!

We've also been doing a lot of custom footballs, but I forgot to take a picture of those. PLUS all our regular Halloween product.

One thing that we are really excited about, pottery wise, is that we got some new molds! And just replacement molds either- brand spankin' new molds that we never had before. We are testing out some new custom carved products:

A ghost

and a Reindeer!

I will probably post other pictures of these guys once we get them painted up- but what do you think? Pretty stinkin' cute, eh?

So like I was saying, I have been pretty busy- but I do intend to document all the events that sitting in my camera right now- it's just a matter of finding the time! Who knows- I may not be caught up until next year at this point! Because as soon as pumpkins are over- we have turkeys, and snowmen!

photo scavenger hunt

2011-08-22T06:50:00.007-07:00

A while back we decided that it would be a fun date night to do a photo scavenger hunt- so we called up Nathan's brother and his wife- and that exactly what we did. Each couple made a list of 25 things then we exchanged lists headed off to see who could get the most of the 50 items.

A car parked in a handicap stop that doesn't have handicap tags:

An upside down pyramid building:

Someone in your group feeding ducks:
(This is me feeding the ducks the rest of my left over burrito because it was the only food we had with us!)

Someone in your group on a bridge:

Your group under a picnic table:

A fake marriage proposal:

Someone from your group on a golf course:

You with the Arizona and US flag in the same picture:
(Nathan's pointing is a little bit off! lol)

You with an anchor:

Someone in your group with a bronze statue:

You in the cell phone lot at the airport:

Someone in your group at the airport ticket counter:

You at a splash park:

A boat:

You in a casino:

A speed limit sign that doesn't end in a 0 or 5:

5 out of state license plates:
(For some reason I only found 4 of the pictures...maybe we only needed to find 4, I don't remember, it was a long time ago)

A snowman:

You with the Mesa temple:
(Yes, we live only a few miles from the actual temple, but we were running out of time!)

Someone in your group folding laundry at a laundromat:

Headstones with the names Robert, David, and Michael:

You with a farm field:

A waterfall:

Someone in your group with a taxidermied animal:

Someone in your group sitting on something pink:

It was a ton of fun! I can't wait until we do it again with more people! I think next time we will make an entire day of it.

journaling

2011-08-17T06:22:00.003-07:00

I have always really enjoyed the idea of journaling, but I've never been very good at practicing the act. So, while I was browsing Amazon the other day, I came across this:

Q&A a day: 365 questions- 5 years- 1825 answers

A five year journal with minimal time commitments! There is a question every day, with 4 lines to write answer! I love it! And I think it's going to be totally fun to see how my answers change from year to year- I am interested to see if any answers stay exactly the same.

Periodically, I will throw the question of the day and my answer in with my blog- and when I have nothing else to blog about, or I want to blog, but I am short on time I'll just consult my handy little daily journal. I am seriously so excited about this little book!

Yesterday's question: What question do you love answering?

My answer: What are your dogs names? I love the little smirk or laugh people have when they realize we named our dogs after a restaurant. =D

Today's question: If you had to spend 5 years in prison, what would you finally have the chance to do?

My Answer: Work out all day long and lose some weight! Also, catch up on some reading.

I wonder what I would have done to spend 5 years in prison though....

it's been a while

2011-08-14T09:28:00.005-07:00

So.... for the the past couple months I have been drafting blogs in my mind- I just haven't gotten around to typing them up and posting them yet! We have been soooo busy, but that just means that I will have a lot to post once I get around to it.

We must be doing it right- Adulthood SUCKS sometimes. Nathan and I are both working full time jobs AND running our pottery business- filling large, regular orders for 3 major customers all while trying to keep the house somewhat it in order, eat out less often (eat healthier,) and keep in regular contact with our families (family dinners/get togethers and such.)

I am really going to try and be better about my blogging. HOPEFULLY I will get at least couple posts done this week, and each week after.

A preview of blogs to come: picnic, photo scavenger hunt, family reunion in Tahoe, our trip to Yosemite, our trip to Vegas, an update on the pottery business, all the crafting and redecorating I've been doing, baseball games... AND MORE!! Stay tuned.

fascinating and disgusting at the same time

2011-07-08T09:37:00.004-07:00

Nathan emailed me this article this morning- since we don't have facebook right now, I decided to blog it!

Human Belly Button Home to Hundreds of Never-Before-Seen Species

Call it a twist on the study of gut bacteria. Scientists sampling DNA strains from the navels of volunteer donors have found 662 microbes

that are apparently new to science, showing that the human navel is apparently a ripe environment for bacteria.

The Belly Button Biodiversity Project, run by scientists at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, has been analyzing navel swabs from a host of volunteers, as New Scientist explains. So far, they've found 1,400 distinct bacterial strains, nearly half of which have never been seen before.

The project was meant to interest people in microbiology and assuage the public's concerns about microbes causing disease -- but it's also yielded plenty of new data about the human "microbiome," the array of microorganisms that live inside (and on) us.

The skin is still not that well studied, and researchers led by Rob Dunn and Jiri Hulcr at NC State wanted to examine belly buttons because, well, they're harder to scrub than the rest of your body.

Science writers Carl Zimmer (who blogs at Discover) and Peter Aldhous (from New Scientist) each donated a swab, and while Aldhous' sample failed to yield bacterial colonies, Zimmer's sample was apparently flush with life. Some species in his microbiome have previously only been found in the ocean, he writes. Another one, a species called Georgenia, has only been found living in the soil in Japan. Zimmer has never been, he writes.

"It has apparently been to you," Dunn told him.

The researchers have recorded a large number of new microbes, but most of them are found in small numbers, New Scientist reports. About 40 species account for around 80 percent of the bacterial populations of our belly buttons, Aldhous writes.

Something nice to think about the next time you're sunbathing -- your swimsuit has plenty of company.

girly time!

2011-06-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Holy cow- time flies when you have a job, a calling, and are trying to run a business all at the same time! I haven't blogged in what seems like FOREVER! Here's something that happened back in May... I think... I don't think it was as far back as April... yeah- I am pretty sure it happened in May.

ANYWAY- I got to spend sometime with my sister and nieces when Nathan went on the Fathers and Sons camp out with my dad. (I spent time with the ladies on the Lunt side of the family about a week before- but I am lame and forgot to take pictures. Amy blogged it though- you can read about it here.)

We had bunches of fun in the 24+ hours that we spent together- we had all kinds of adventures...

For example, I let the girls do my make-up:

After the girls went to bed, Jessica and I made a home-made pizzookie!

We had been looking forward to eating this all day- while it was cooking, we kept talking about how we would just devour it once it came out of the oven.

This is how much was left once we got full:

Maybe next time we shouldn't eat so much pizza and wings beforehand! Lol

Jessica and I stayed up late watching movies and playing games and laughing and being silly just like we used to when we were teenagers.

The next morning, while Jess was getting ready for the day- the girls discovered something while they were running around like maniacs...

Aunty Tarin's wood floors are very slippery! And what is more fun to do on a slippery wood floor than to put on your uncle's sock and play slip n slide?!

After that, we went and got breakfast at Dunkin Donuts

THEN we went Tempe Beach Park so the girls could play at the splash park there.

One thing they really enjoyed there was this:

A bucket that filled up and tipped over and spilled on top of all the kids. They never knew when it was going to fall! Here is Bethany getting out of the way just in time:

It was a pretty warm day- they had fun playing in the water.

Later they came with me to look at couch we found on Craigslist (and eventually bought) and on the way there we saw this place:

TWO HIPPIES MAGIC MUSHROOM BURGERS

We thought it sounded like a fantastic place to get some lunch.

This is what it looked like on the inside:

It was hippie-tastic! So much so, that they only took cash. Which was kind of a pain- but acceptable once we tasted the food!

The girls were silly while we waited around back for lunch.

Jessica and I both got a yummy burger with swiss cheese and guacamole!

And I got a black cherry soda- because for some reason I am on a crazy black cherry kick right now. At my girls night with the Lunts- I got a black cherry smoothie from Paradise Bakery- which was SUPER delicious.

The girls are picky little eaters, so they didn't get a burger- they got a quesadilla instead.

It was seriously one of the best burgers I have ever had. Nathan and I will have to go back some time for date night.

"If it doesn't get all over the place- it doesn't belong in your face!!"

A good time was had by all!

more fit for the kingdom

2011-06-04T11:37:00.004-07:00

So, I heard about this the other day, I got some info on it and decided that I am going to start doing it on Monday!

Here's a breakdown of the program:

A 12 week challenge for people of all ages to improve their spiritual and physical fitness to be better instruments in the hands of God while helping Him build His Kingdom!

Earning Points
A total of 65 total points are possible per week that you can fill out on a spread sheet that I will send to you.

DAILY POINTS

Each of the following will earn you ONE point per day. The physical challenges are worth 6 points because you can have cheat day a week (whatever day you want, can be different days) but prayer and scripture study we need all 7 days.

No Desserts
No Soda (if soda isn't a big deal for you- you can change this to something else- like no fast food- or taking a daily vitamin)
No Eating after 7:30pm
Exercising - 30 minutes, elevated heart rate.
Scriptures -at least 1 chapter (+ 3 bonus points for a perfect week)
Daily prayer (morning AND night) (+ 3 bonus points for a perfect week)
Weekly challenge points

Weekly Challenges

The weekly challenges only last one week and do NOT compound on top of each other (unless you want to continue them on your own- which is kind of the idea!)

Week 1- no sweets or treats
Week 2- keep a food journal daily
Week 3- 7 hours sleep per night
Week 4- Eat recommended daily fiber
Week 5- 100 sit-ups per day (can be broken up)
Week 6- Write in your journal daily
Week 7- 4 servings of veggies per day
Week 8- drink 64 oz. of water daily
Week 9- 5 servings of fruit per day
Week 10- 50 pushups per day (can be broken up)
Week 11- eat 5 small meals per day
Week 12- run/walk @ least a 1/2 marathon this week (can be broken up)

Cheat Days

Your cheat days can be different days. For example- Tues. you go out to eat and really want some soda with lunch, go for it- but no more soda for the week!
Thurs. your friend brings you brownies, go for it- but no more desserts for the week unless you don't want the bonus point!
Friday night you are up super late and are starving at 11:00 pm, GO for it- eat something healthy! But no more midnight snacks!
Sunday you should rest from your daily exercise. That is still a perfect week!

WEEKLY POINTS
There are 10 points possible each week for the following:

FIVE points per week for completing the mystery challenge
FIVE point per week for holding Family Home Evening (doesn't matter which night you hold it on, just as long as you do)!

If you want to give it a try too- just email me or leave a comment and I will send you the spreadsheet and I will add you to the list to get the weekly mystery challenges and encouragement. And it doesn't matter if you are already on a diet or exercise program this could be a great addition! If you know anyone else that might be interested, pass the info along. I have 5 other people, besides myself that are going to participate so far. The more people we get for support the better!

I will post my personal progress on the blog here, like once a week.

I am excited about it- I hope you will join me! LET ME KNOW! =D

yikes!

2011-05-31T12:27:00.001-07:00

I am WAY behind on my blogging! A LOT has been going on. My new job and our pottery biz has been keeping me quite busy lately. I will try to play catch up throughout this week.

May 21, 2011

2011-05-21T08:00:00.001-07:00

lunt family pictures

2011-05-18T20:57:00.019-07:00

Back at the end of April we got family pictures taken again- this time for the Lunt side of the family. We used the same photographer that we used for the Sanders family photos, except this time we were at Encanto Park in Phoenix.

It was really early in the morning, which kinda sucked- but I think the pictures turned out really awesome! Here are some of my favorites:

Check out our photographer's website here:
Creative Image in Motion

day 18 - a picture of your biggest insecurity

2011-05-18T20:55:00.002-07:00

my weight.

Nathan says he doesn't have any insecurities. ... lucky.

day 17- a picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

2011-05-17T12:58:00.002-07:00

pottery.

Ever since we took over this business- it's consumed our lives!

day 16- a picture of your guilty pleasure

2011-05-17T12:33:00.003-07:00

I couldn't find a picture for the original #16- so I changed it to "a picture of your guilty pleasure"

I have 2.
Super lame documentary/reality shows- like Sister Wives, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Jon & Kate + 8, and Teen Mom.

And the music of Kanye West. I know he's a complete tool, and as a human being I don't really care for him, I really dig his music! Here's a video of one of my favorite Kanye songs- it's not an official vid- it's one that was made by someone I follow on youtube that I think is pretty cool. Again, this is Kanye West- so there is some language- just a heads up in case there are little ears around or if you are offend by such words.

Nathan says his guilty pleasure is coin collecting...

... but wanna know what I think it is, secretly?

Making babies laugh!

He loves it- though he'll never admit it!

day 14 - a picture of someone you could never imagine your life without

2011-05-17T12:06:00.003-07:00

our family!!!

day 15- a picture of something you want to do before you die

2011-05-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

I would love to go on a Mediterranean cruise- but especially see Italy

We would both love to sky dive

the zoo and baby dylan

2011-05-14T23:04:00.004-07:00

A few weeks back we took a trip to the zoo with my aunts and cousin. While we were there, Nathan busted out the camera and got some pretty good animal shots! Here is some of what we saw:

Later that day, we drove over to my cousin, Desiree's, house to see her and Devin's new baby Dylan!

I even got Nathan to hold him for a little while!
He's getting better- he's starting to look like a natural!

This is me saying "See, it's not so bad..."
and him saying "Don't go getting any ideas!!"

Earlier in the week, we had stopped by to get some new born foot prints from him.
Didn't they turn out so cute?!

If you know anyone who wants clay hand or footprints done- drop us a line. We are cheaper than As You Wish and we'll do them year round!

day 14- postponed...

2011-05-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

I am not doing day 14 yet. I am waiting for some pictures to come back, so we are going to skip it for now. It should be up in a few days. =/

day 13- a picture of your favorite band or artist

2011-05-14T22:29:00.005-07:00

Nathan had a hard time choosing- he says he doesn't really have a favorite band or artist BUT I know he has a mega crush on Katy Perry.

He thinks she's beautiful... I agree. If I were a dude, she'd be celeb crush for sure! Gorgeous!
I really like most of her music too.

I didn't have to think of mine at all! Hands down- 100% for sure- my all time favorite artist is Robbie Williams! LOVE him. I've had a thing for him since junior high!

However, Matt Nathanson is a close second. His music really speaks to me.

This is my favorite Matt Nathanson song- I could listen to it over and over and never get sick of it. It's a cover of Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits:

day 12- a picture of something you love

2011-05-14T21:56:00.005-07:00

(besides each other, of course!)

Nathan chooses:
SLEEPING!

Tarin chooses:
Craft Projects!
Here are a few of my favorites from around the house

And here is one side of craft closet- which contains several more projects that need to be completed still! They make me happy. =)

day 11 - a picture of something you hate

2011-05-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Tarin hates:

FREAKIN' TWILIGHT!!

and Taylor Swift. *GAG!

Nathan hates:

veggies! *barf!

and doing dishes!
(Tarin hates this too- but not as much a Twilight or Taylor!)

day 10 - a picture of the person you do the craziest things with

2011-05-10T23:03:00.003-07:00

For me, it's Jessica (mostly because I have known her longest.) We get into all kinds of shenanigans! Midnight QT runs for taquitos, coyote hunting, fake mustaches, uncontrollable laughter, made up pictures of the Dark Lord, random fake tattoos- we have very similar senses of humor which can be dangerous at times.

For Nathan- it used to be his friend Andrew, but I don't have any pictures of them together. Sad day. But in more recent times, it would be me.

This is a horrible picture of us both- but displays some of our weirdness. One thing that makes us such a good match is that we can both be total weirdos! I love all our silly times together. =)

day 09 - a picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

2011-05-10T22:57:00.004-07:00

I couldn't pick just one- so I picked 5! Daddy, Aunty Lara, Nathan, Jessica & Kassi

Nathan picked me.... =)

... and his mommy. =)

day 08 - a picture that makes you laugh

2011-05-10T22:54:00.003-07:00

Originally I was going to put the Lord Voldemort picture that I created for this day, but I didn't think it was fair to double post him so I went out and found two other pictures that have made me laugh recently:

Also, a video that Nathan and I found the other day makes us laugh no matter how many times we watch it. It reminds us of Buster! lol

Day 07 - a picture of your most treasured item

2011-05-10T22:20:00.003-07:00

I chose 2 things.

#1- my wedding ring- because it symbolizes the love and commitment that Nathan and I have for each other. AND because Nathan picked it out all by himself. It's not one that I said I wanted, and he didn't have any help from my friends, sisters, or his friends or family. I absolutely adore it and think that it's perfect and beautiful!

#2- my puppies.

I don't have babies yet, so my dogs are my babies. You will think I sound like a total dork for saying this, but I have wondered to myself how I am ever going to love a baby as much as I love my dogs. I know I will- duh- I just love them sooooo much. They make me so happy and even the dumbest little things they do, I think are adorable.

I heart my Little Dave & Buster!

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

2011-05-06T14:53:00.015-07:00

Nathan didn't have an answer to this one. He couldn't think of anyone he would rather be than himself.

I am sort of the same; if I could trade places with someone, just for one day I would like to be a younger version of myself- like as a little kid! Back before I had any real responsibilities to worry about, no body issues or insecurities, money didn't really mean anything- life was good and easy. The only thing I had to do, was try to be nice to my younger sisters and be inside before the street lights came on.

So in honor of my answer to this question, I have decided to post pictures of Nathan and I from when we were little!

Babies:

around 18 months:

Christmas time ages 2 or 3:

Super cute littleness:

Sleeping:

Halloween:

Kindergarten:

First Grade:

Maybe 2nd gradish?

Me at my baptism, Nathan after pinewood derby:

Dress-up:

With siblings:

10:

day 5- a picture of your favorite memory

2011-05-05T21:31:00.002-07:00

How about pictureS of our favorite memory!

day 4- a picture of your night

2011-05-05T21:27:00.002-07:00

Lately, our "nights" begin when Nathan comes home from work and we use that time to relax and just enjoy each other's company. We started watching "The Office" on Netflix- so we usually get a few episodes of that in per night. We eat dinner, watch tv, and just relax most of the time. Every now in then we throw in cleaning pottery or some other busy work- like food prep- while we watch. It's nice to have time together to just do nothing when we spent sooooo many long nights at the shop working our butts off.

day 3- a picture of the cast from your favorite show

2011-05-03T09:44:00.003-07:00

(Yes, I am doing day 2 & 3 today, to catch up! I forgot to post one on the 1st!)

Nathan's favorite show: Lost

Tarin's favorite show: Grey's Anatomy

And a show that has become one of my favorite as we have been watching it together, from the beginning of the series on Netflix-- The Office! I am hooked!

day 2- a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

2011-05-03T09:20:00.004-07:00

tarin & her daddy:

nathan & his tarin:

buster & his daddy:

dave& his mommy:

day 1 - a picture of yourself with ten facts

2011-05-02T10:41:00.003-07:00

tarin

1. I tend to freak out when things don’t go as planned.
2. I knew the first time I saw my husband that I would marry him.
3. I love creating things- I’m happiest when working on an artsy project.
4. Nathan and I furnished our entire house off hand-me-downs and craigslist.
5. I’m a music junkie!
6. I have taken Spanish AND Italian classes... I can understand a lot, but I can't speak either language fluently enough to be remotely understood.
7. Through out my life my hair has been black, blonde, auburn, red, pink, green, blue, purple, and various shades of brown (not at all once)
8. I love going on road trips- especially to California!
9. My first car was a 1994 Mercury Cougar. I don’t have the car anymore, but I still have the key.
10. I am a licensed Esthetician

nathan

1. I collect coins.
2. My wardrobe consists mostly of cargo shorts and t-shirts.
3. I am the only person in my immediate family that has been on a cruise.
4. My favorite Jamba Juice flavor is Strawberry Surfrider.
5. I got 1st place in the Pro-Am Rodeo at the Ceramic Olympics in 2005.
6. I think the best roller coaster is Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
7. I am named after my great-grandfathers, Nathan Jones & Jack Crandall.
8. I hate veggies, but love candy & ice cream.
9. I laid all the flooring in our house by myself (except for the carpet)
10. I am an Eagle Scout.

buster & dave

1. Buster is an American Bulldog/Australian Shepherd mix.
2. Dave is a Pitbull/Labrador mix.
3. Buster's favorite thing is going on car rides. Dave HATES car rides.
4. Dave often mistakes his own foot for a toy.
5. Buster knows how to sit, lay down, roll over, shake, give hugs, and catch treats off his nose.
6. Dave's favorite toys are scraps of former toys that he ripped all the stuffing out of.
7. Both Buster and Dave enjoy going to the dog park or having play dates with their doggy cousins.
8. Buster starts spazzing out if you tell him to something more than once, to try and emphasize that he is already doing it. (I will try to get this on video one day- it's pretty hilarious!)
9. Dave will stop what he's doing in the yard to sit and watch a bird or a plane fly over.
10. They are spoiled!!

30 day photo challenge

2011-05-02T10:39:00.001-07:00

Some of you may have seen the "30 Day Challenge" on facebook; we decided to do it on our blog this month! Check in every so often, you might find out something you didn't know before!

end of the month foolishness

2011-04-27T10:33:00.006-07:00

Nathan was introduce to a website called "Face In Hole" by some people at work. He sent me an email directing me to check it out, and this silliness ensued:

Super Buff Jersey Shore Nathan

Indiana Nathan

Bond, Nathan Bond

Nathan, the Hairy Potter

Supernathan

Katy Perry and I- we are like BFF's

Tarin & Puck

(he's my favorite Glee hottie!)

Tarin the mermaid

and Tarin Bunny.
I don't think the platinum blond look works for me- but I'd take that bod in a heart beat!

Which one is your favorite?

dark mark

2011-04-20T10:30:00.002-07:00

Guess who is getting amped up for the next, and final, HP movie? ME! (and my sister, Jessica!)
We shall be representing the dark side at the midnight showing; so we practiced our dark mark tattoos!

Jessica did this one on me. It looks pretty sweet- especially considering it was a first try! She did it in sharpie and then I colored it in with eye shadow. We are tweaking our design a bit- and figuring out what else to wear that night. Check back in July to see the total package.

Go Team Voldemort!

look what i did today!

2011-04-19T15:51:00.002-07:00

We brought these ugly, dirty, rusty, ripped up chairs home from the shop....

For me to re-cover!

How cute is that?!

I took it apart, spray painted the frame a metallic-looking brown, and then reupholstered the seat and back and put it all back together. (Please ignore the clamps on the back, the glue holding the two pieces together isn't quite dry yet.)

I have 4 chairs total- 2 are going to be like this one and stay in my front room for extra seating-- I'm also making one for the office- but it might have different fabric.

I'm so excited that I tried something new and that it turned out so fabulous!

silly sisters

2011-04-15T23:31:00.003-07:00

My sister, Jessica, and I have a history of being a bit silly when we get together. When we were younger we would be sent away from the dinner table for laughing so hard- we even got in trouble for laughing too loud in the middle of night when we shared a room in high school. Out of the family- our senses of humor are probably the most similar- which is why we have so many goofy shenanigans!

So earlier today Jessica mentioned to me that she had bought the latest Harry Potter movie, which somehow led to us talking about Voldemort (my favorite character.) We got into a long joking conversation about why he was so evil and what could fix him. I t was probably in the top 3 funniest conversations I have ever had with anyone. I was giggling the whole time.

A little while after that, we were playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire on Facebook and one of the questions had to do with our favorite fast food restaurant- Chick Fil A! We started talking about how delicious it is and I decided that is what I was going to have for lunch- so Jessica told me I should bring her some because she has been so nice and awesome helping me with the shop and getting my house organized and just because I love her. And I said no (not because I don't love her too, but because she lives 20 miles away and gas is expensive to just deliver a sandwich.) She did not like my answer, so I said:

Lord Voldemort goes to Chick-Fil-A without his friends all the time. And while he is there he takes a picture with his cell phone and sends it to them with a message that says "HA HA!"

Which inspired me to visit google images and create this picture in Microsoft Paint- as a present for my dear sister:

While searching google images I came across another Chick-Fil-A picture I liked so I edited this one as well:

Needless to say, we got a good half hour or so of solid laughter looking at and discussing the pictures. We were laughing our butts off- both of laughed so hard that our tummies hurt! Even now, several hours later, when I look at them I chuckle a little bit. I even made it the back ground on my cell phone! HAHAHAHA! Anyway, I just thought I would share some more April Foolishness with you.

APRIL FOOLS!

2011-04-01T21:13:00.005-07:00

Negative pregnancy test= April Fools! We are not pregnant- the entire thing was a hoax.

Conversation from the night of March 31st:

Tarin: I am thinking of posting that I pregnant on facebook tomorrow- do you think anyone will fall for it?

Nathan: uh...YEAH!

Tarin: Really?! I dunno- everyone does the pregnancy thing.

Nathan: I think a ton of people would believe it.

And so the prank came to be. I figured if I was going to do it I better go all out- pictures, a blog post, a cover story- the works!! So I would like to thank all those who made this possible:

Nathan, Kassi, and Jessica- for playing along and making my story seem more believable.

Google Images- for helping me find a picture of a positive pregnancy test.

Google blog search- for helping me find a blog with 2 ultrasound photos- from the same person without any identifying information on the pictures- but with enough information in the blog to help my story along.

Facebook and Blogger- for getting the word out.

And a special thanks to all those who posted comments all day long and kept me smiling.

****

I just want to point out- when I actually am pregnant I am not going to let my close friends and family find out over a facebook post. It'll happen in person- or at the least over the phone.

No way would I make an announcement like that while my parents are over seas!! Come on guys!

And you should have been tipped off- I dyed my hair last week and have been moving my shop- lugging around super heavy molds and inhaling large amounts of dust- all things that I wouldn't be doing- and that Nathan probably wouldn't let me do- if I knew I was pregnant.

This has been an amusing experiment though! Keep an eye out for the real thing within the next year or so!

coming october 2011....

2011-04-01T00:12:00.002-07:00

Yup- the rumors are true, we're pregnant! I am just a little over 10 weeks along. The little kumquat will be joining our family somewhere around the 27th of October.

This is my ultrasound from the other day- my second so far. My sister was kind enough to go with me since Nathan had to work. (Love ya, Jess!) It's so neat to see our baby starting actually look like a baby a little bit instead of just a lima bean. Everything looks good so far- s/he is measuring right on schedule (4.11cm) and the heart rate is 164.

It's been hard to keep this a secret so long! I even deleted my facebook to keep from publicly complaining about the morning sickness and blabbing my overwhelming excitement and new found love for pickles and onions!

We found out about a month and a half ago. I took a pregnancy test from the dollar store and was shocked! Nathan couldn't believe it either, so my BFF- Kassi- and I went out and bought FIVE real pregnancy tests, just to make sure. (It felt a little bit like that scene from Knocked Up- but less extreme!) I drank about half a gallon of Sunny D- while Kassi and I sat around quoting Juno and discussing baby names and waited til I needed to "go." This is what we got:

I made an appointment with Dr. Tutt the next morning and about a week later it was confirmed. Baby Lunt is on the way!

It's still too soon to know the gender- we could find out in about 6-8 weeks- but we aren't going to. I really want it to be a surprise! You are more then welcome to guess though- wager on it if you like. lol

Well, that's all for now!

kid history

2011-03-21T14:34:00.002-07:00

These videos are sooooo funny. My sister's friend showed us just one the other night and we were cracking up about it all night long. When we looked up the other 3- they were just as funny! And the best part is- they are family friendly!! Nothing inappropriate, just good clean fun!

Basically what it is, is a bunch of little kids telling stories from their parents' childhood and while the kids are narating, the parents are acting it out. Sooooooooo funny.

Seriously, "Kid History" is AWESOME! Watch it- you'll like it! I promise.
Enjoy!

Baby Abigail

2011-03-14T08:41:00.003-07:00

This is Abigail Goss:

Her family is in our ward and are nothing short of completely AWESOME. Her mommy has been my visiting teacher since we moved in and their family is so strong and soooo sweet. Unfortunately, they are going through a pretty rough time right now. They found out back in January that little Abigail has stage 4 cancer. Here is an excerpt from their blog that explains a little more about it:

"Abigail is the fifth child of Aaron and Annabeth. Her siblings are Mary (11), Hyrum (9), Elisabeth (7) and Rachel (4). Everyone loves Abigail. Her grandparents adore her. When Abigail was 19 months old, she was not feeling well for a couple of weeks. On Saturday, January 15 Annabeth noticed a lump on Abigail's lower neck near her shoulder. They took her to the urgent care and were told to take her to a children's hospital for blood work to determine what it might be. After drawing blood (which Abigail HATED), x-rays of chest and abdomen, another IV, and a CT scan, the doctors believed it to be a pediatric cancer called Neuroblastoma. The tumor starts on her left kidney/adrenal gland and works its way up through her torso, behind her heart, and surrounds her aorta artery. From looking at the images of the CT scan, it looks like the tumor takes up about 25% of her total abdomen space. That's just a guess of a number, but (this is Annabeth speaking) the thing was massive."

Since that time, Abigail has had a surgery, biopsies, chest tubes, a bunch of different meds pumped through her system, and just finished her second round of chemo.

Please help the Goss Family!
Here are couple things YOU can do:

1. The Goss's have asked everyone they know to act an act of service for someone else in Abigail's honor. Do something big or small in honor of this beautiful little girl who is fighting for her life.

2. They are holding a garage sale on March 26th with all proceeds going to The Abigail Medical Trust Fund. Stop by and buy something or make a small donation. For directions click HERE

3. Please click HERE to watch the story that CBS5 did about Abigail and the Fans Across America organization to find out other awesome ways you can help! I had never heard of this organization before but what they have going is pretty amazing.

4. Until the end of March you can buy a Fitness Works 3 month membership for only $20. This coupon/certificate also comes with a bunch of other perks and coupons for other stores and stuff. 50% of proceeds will go to Abigail's medical fund. I am not sure if the person sponsoring this fundraiser wants their email plastered all over my blog, so if you are interested in contributing- let me know and I can you the info.

5. Donate directly to her medical fund. To donate to this fund, simply walk into any Wells Fargo or Wachovia branch and tell them you'd like to donate to the ABIGAIL GOSS MEDICAL TRUST. This TRUST is dedicated for the sole purpose of taking care of Abigail's medical costs now and in the future. If there is an excess amount of funds, that excess will be donated to a foundation of our choice to help other cancer victims.

6. Spread the word! Let others know about the fund raising efforts. Especially the garage sale, Fitness Works certification, and Fans Across America- each of those things are a financial donation that you also get something back in return.

awesome thing #303

2011-03-12T08:51:00.006-07:00

Courtesy of 1000awesomethings.com!

Awesome thing #303- All the food that comes from a pig!!

(This one made me giggle)

Sweet & Sour Pork:

Prosciutto:

Pork Rinds:

BBQ Ribs:

Pork Tenderloin:

Pork Cutlet:

Hot Dogs:

Ham Sandwiches:

Sausage:

BACON:

And my personal favorite that didn't make his list:

Pulled Pork!!

And not just ANY pulled pork- THIS pulled pork is from Joe's Real BBQ! Delish.

Their customer appreciation day is coming up on May 4th? Will we be there? Hmmmm we might be- because it's AWESOME!!

1000 AWESOME things!

2011-03-12T08:38:00.003-07:00

In my random wanderings of the internet I came across a blog that I never knew existed: 1000awesomethings.com! This guy started this blog in June 2008 and is counting down from 1000- posting a new awesome thing every day! That is AWESOME! So awesome in fact that it was turned into a book:

And this book was apparently not big enough to even hold all the awesome, because there is also this book:

Yep! I think I may have to add these two to my book shelf in honor of the year of AWESOME and also start reading this blog every day. It makes me smile. I will probably steal some of the awesome to re-blog here on my own blog (ya know, like you can re-tweet something on twitter?!) I will of course give 1000awesomethings credit.

I am glad that other people are taking time out of life to recognize the awesomeness.

2 years!

2011-03-10T22:55:00.006-07:00

Happy Anniversary to us (a few days ago!) We made it through our second year of marriage and are now on to our third. And bad news for those of you who bet we'd be pregnant by our second anniversary- we're not!

Then:

Now:

Yup! We're still in love! And while I don't think that this past year will go down in history as one of our best years, it was definitely a learning experience. We went through so much- mostly though, taking over the ceramic business. Being with the one you love practically 24 hours a day and having to "work" together isn't the easiest thing in the world. With it, comes grumpiness, head butting, loads of stress, arguing, irritability.... it's not all bad though. Sometimes it was really nice to have the one you love right near by whenever you want. It's great when you are at the end of your rope and just need a hug or a shoulder to cry on for a while. But it is hard.

After making several little adjustments, I think we are finally finding our footing and a way to balance the work load that makes our professional AND personal lives a lot less stressful. Nathan is working full time at Everest University Online, and loving it. I am looking for a job of my own- hopefully doing something administrative/clerical. We cut our product line WAY back for our largest customer, so the pottery thing isn't going to be one of our main sources of income all the time- but hopefully just some really sweet bonus cash once I have another job.

It's only been about a week since we decided to scale back the pottery biz and I can already feel a difference in our relationship. It's definitely a good thing- and for those of you who are betting on a baby before the 3rd anniversary, this boosts your chances for sure! Even if we had wanted to have a baby in the past year- we just didn't have any time! I hear infants are quite the time suck, and we simply had none to spare. I am not saying that we are trying or anything like that- so don't get any ideas! I am just saying that it's more likely now that we aren't working on pottery like every waking moment.

Since 2011 is my "Year of AWESOME"- I am predicting that our 3rd year of marriage will be nothing short of incredible. I am so blessed to be married to such a handsome, hard working, funny, loving, amazingly fantastic man. I love him so much!!! My goal for this next year is to make sure that I show it- to make sure that there is never any doubt how much I adore him- he is my everything. =)

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Nathan! May we have many, many, many more!

"Let's think of the future, forget the past. You're not my first love, but you're my last"

can i just say...

2011-03-04T17:39:00.001-07:00

It kinda freaks me out a little, that kids that I used to baby-sit are getting married. SERIOUSLY?!! This fact makes me feel old! I shouldn't feel old- I'm not even 25 yet!!!!

I am happy though, to see that they have grown up to be good people, making good decision, and are ever so happy.

...but it's still totally weird!!! =/

we love RMs!!

2011-02-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, Nathan's little brother Jeremy got back from his 2 year LDS mission in Ogden, Utah!

It's not easy to leave everything behind for 2 whole years to go spread the gospel, but it's a great and important work and we are so proud of Jeremy and the choice that he made to do so.

He has changed so much! He came back thinner, maybe a little taller, more mature, and without a doubt- with a stronger testimony. So much happened while he was away! 2 weddings, a new baby, a nephew that got baptized, 7 new dogs, 2 new houses, a new business, a niece that went into young womens, and niece that went into primary... the list goes on and on! He's got a lot of catching up to do!

I only knew Jeremy for a little bit before he left (he headed out a month before Nathan and I got married.) I am excited that he's home now and that I will get the chance to get to know, yet another family member! Welcome home, Jeremy!!

To see more pictures of his home coming and read all about his mission- check out Jeremy's Mission Blog!

we love our nieces and nephews!

2011-02-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Even though they can be little stinkers some times- we still love ALL of our nieces and nephews. They are all so different and unique and AWESOME! We love getting together with them and reading Amy, Sarah, and Jessica's blogs and hearing about all amazing and hilarious things they do on a daily basis. They definitely bring smiles to our faces and we are blessed to have them in our lives. I am so happy that even though we don't have kids of our own at the moment that we still get to have the joy of having children in our lives- they are so fun!

Madison

Garrett

Carson

Sydni

Melody & Bethany

Marley

What a beautiful bunch, huh? With nieces and nephews as cute as these, how could Nathan and I not wind up with absolutely adorable kids, right? ;)

i have the weirdest dreams

2011-02-23T08:35:00.002-07:00

Here are some hi-lights from last night's dream:

- being stuck on a military island with food beginning to run out
-a naval ship that was also somehow Seattle Grace Hospital (the set of Grey's Anatomy)
-a very dangerous elevator (that winds up crashing) where people express their feeling through belting out Mika songs....
-a crazy guy stalking my best friend using a GPS type devise that is located in his CTR ring
-the reason he is stalking her: she stole 2 of his rings in high school that double as pet grooming tool that I then offer to hide on my keys so he can't find them.
-something shady going on in the government
-a phone conversation about missing a job interview and the boss needing to know what I had learned about government crop control in beauty school.
-my former supervisor having another child and being pregnant again.
-randomly pushing around a wheel barrow.
-eating cheez its
-leaving the military island on a ship just a hurricane start to blow.

This dream was a little more random and strange than usual, so I decided to write bits of it down before I forgot. It seemed really realistic too- weird! =/

what happens when you give kids stickers?

2011-02-22T21:11:00.002-07:00

...Of course, they will stick them all over their bodies!

I love my silly nieces! I can't wait to have kids of my own one day! =D

i love valentines day!

2011-02-22T20:44:00.003-07:00

Yes, I know... I am a slacker and this post is like a week over due! Better late than never though I guess (I am sure I have said that like a million times since I started this blog!)

Here are some of our Valentines Day happenings:

Not only did Nathan buy me flowers (not roses- he knows I am not huge fan of roses,) but he also painted the vase that he put them in. I think it turned out pretty cute!

He also painted me a flower pot and some heart add-ons letting me know what was inside! "Hugs & Kisses!" Too cute. Hershey Hugs are my favorite!!! Nathan has been helping me them all up though, since I am trying to be healthier.

I made him something special too! Chocolate dipped pretzels! I made a variety- peanut butter and chocolate, caramel and chocolate, caramel rice crispy and chocolate, oreo sprinkled over the chocolate, sprinkles- all kinds! Here's a close up of one:

Our big Valentines Day treat was a stay-cation at a hotel in Tempe. It was a little place across from Arizona Mills mall- so while we were there, we took a little trip to the mall and walked around- and in our wanderings we came across a claw machine with these inside:

A JUMBO rainbow slinky. Who doesn't need one of those, right? So Nathan put a $5 bill into the machine, thinking we would try a couple times and it would give us change.... but it did not give us change and the claw wasn't really strong enough to grab the jumbo slinky-- but we had a good time trying over and over again, attempting to figure out a way to grab one at just the right angle. No luck though. As we were walking away Nathan asked "What would we have even done with it if we had won?" Good question.....

Back at the hotel we decided to save some money on going out and just stay in the room and hang out- so we brought dinner. I made some chicken pillows and brought some sun chips- and a romantic bottle of sparkling cider to drink. We also a special Valentines giant red velvet cupcake that I had bought, but I forgot to take a picture of that. We wound up eating it with our fingers because I forgot to bring eating utensils! That didn't make any less delicious though!

We also brought along a portable dvd player and got the movie "Easy A" from Redbox. It was a pretty funny flick! We may not have had a lot to spend- and it wasn't anything elaborate- but it was a fun and memorable Valentines Day! I love being able to spend quality time with my hubby! =)

i love my best friend!!!

2011-02-16T08:44:00.006-07:00

(Since I deleted my facebook for the time being, I had to steal pictures from Kassi's facebook! Thanks for being a great picture taker Kassi!!)

I heart my BFF, Kassi! She is simply marvelous!

We have have had many fantastical adventures together.

We both have excellent taste too- notice the top Kassi is wearing above and the one I am wearing below? Yep- we bought the same shirt without even talking to each other because we are both so in sync and AWESOME! lol

She threw me a rockin' bachelorette party and help save my bridal shower.

AND she was my maid of honor! Yes, she put up with all my wedding craziness!

She is always there when I need her no matter what! Whether it's a late night trip to Denny's for some much needed girl talk, someone to whine to about my bad day, someone to watch the chick flicks that my husband won't see with me, or even picking paint out of my hair when I am a messy painter!

She is one of the coolest, sweetest, and as I mentioned before- most AWESOME people I know.

We have known each other since junior high! We used to pass notes in seminary and even had a huge crush on the same guy! (Don't worry, that never came between us- we just both really appreciated the extreme hotness of the guy.) We have seen each other through some really good times and some really rough times.

We have even gone out in public together dressed like cows. Yeah, that's true friendship right there ladies and gentlemen!

And you know what else? Today is her birthday!!! Have been planning all along to do this post on this day? Of course!! Yep, my love posts wouldn't be complete without a blog about Kassi. I just love her to death- she is the best, best friend that anyone could ask for.

Happy Birthday Kassi!!!!!!!
Have a cookie.

blogging FAIL!

2011-02-16T08:43:00.002-07:00

So much for trying to blog every day!! That's what happens when life starts getting in the way I guess.... I will try to do some random catching up over the next few days.

If you enjoy fails though check this out.

i heart greys!

2011-02-11T08:57:00.002-07:00

In honor of my middles sister, Jessica, joining Katie and I in our love for Grey's Anatomy, I decided to put some love related clips, and fan created music videos that are all "lovey!" Enjoy!! =D

my favorite "christina & burke" moment. if you don't know the characters and what's going on it's not that great, but if you watch grey's you know what I'm talking about!

you are loved

2011-02-10T07:17:00.001-07:00

i joined a gym!

2011-02-09T08:58:00.005-07:00

To help me with resolution #2 on my list- I joined a gym!... sorta. One of Nathan's cousins was doing a fundraiser and selling coupon thingies that had a 3 month membership to Fitness Works- so I joined a gym for 3 months.

So far I am undecided on what I really think of this gym- I have my "orientation" or whatever with a trainer tomorrow morning, so maybe once I have a better lay of the land I might like it better. One thing that I do really like is this:

Each piece of cardio equipment has it's own tv that you can plug your head phones in to! I can watch whatever I want and hear it while I work out! (I spent a lot of time reading tv shows that I wasn't really interested in at my last gym.) It makes my cardio time seem to go by a lot faster- I like it.

This gym is a bit of a hike from my house (7 miles- about a 10ish minute drive), but I figure I might as well take advantage of having a full gym's worth of equipment and classes for 3 months- it only cost me $20- which is less than the monthly dues at most clubs. If I am able to stick to it- and go at least 4 times a week, I might be able to convince Nathan into letting me join my old gym, that I know and love, that is a little closer to the house.

I am feeling pretty motivated for the time being and I think the workouts are helping to improve my mood! I will check back here in about a month with an update on my progress. =)

Oh, and p.s.- I deleted my facebook for the time being. It may or may not come back in a few a months- I don't really know at this point. Nathan still has his and I still have a phone or email if you need to get in touch. Bye for now!

happiness, health, and marriage

2011-02-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God,” declared the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”¹ They went on to say that marriage is “essential to [God’s] eternal plan,” with husbands and wives under “solemn responsibility to love and care for each other.”

Then in 1999 President Gordon B. Hinckley reemphasized the crucial role of marriage with his admonition that “God-sanctioned marriage between a man and a woman has been the basis of civilization for thousands of years. There is no justification to redefine what marriage is.”² Yet people keep trying to redefine it to legitimize worldly philosophies or to serve their own agendas. Increasingly, believers in God-ordained marriage are called on to defend the institution from those who say it is irrelevant or passé. Parents often find themselves looking for ways to demonstrate the importance of marriage to their children who are bombarded by pressures from the world and, all too often, from their friends and associates.

A few decades ago, a proclamation on marriage and its validity would hardly have seemed necessary. Alternative definitions of marriage didn’t exist, and there were no movies, television shows, books, or other media products promoting alternative lifestyles. But any examination of marriage today requires consideration of a divorce rate over 50 percent and a high acceptance in some areas of cohabitation, which enables couples to forgo commitment for a living-together arrangement that lasts, on the average, two years.³ Some now call marriage just another lifestyle choice and even question whether it needs to exist between a man and a woman. One respected reviewer has commented that family studies textbooks often “downplay the value of marriage,” employing warm platitudes to describe nontraditional unions and reserving heavy criticism for conventional marriages.⁴

Not surprisingly, a recent study conducted by prominent social scientists David Popenoe and Barbara Defoe Whitehead found that young people in the United States today are increasingly apprehensive and pessimistic about marriage. They display a remarkable increase in acceptance of out-of-wedlock childbearing, single parenting, and living together before marriage. No wonder the number of people getting married in the United States has dropped so markedly.⁵

Is the traditional definition of marriage urged by “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” a lost cause? Is it true that the proclamation’s high ideals are merely anachronisms befitting earlier times? When the question arises, should defenders of the family concede that marriage is simply their personal preference?

A growing body of academic research and a burgeoning group of scholars in family studies are saying a firm “no” to all of those questions. Informed by an abundance of objective, highly respected studies of various countries, races, and economic classes, many social scientists now affirm that marriage is of great advantage to the well-being of men and women in a myriad of ways. In assuring happiness, a lasting marriage proves more beneficial physically, mentally, and economically than exercise programs, medical treatments, therapy sessions, or financial investments.⁶ Of course, statistics merely reflect general tendencies, and there are many exceptions. Conversely, unhappy marriages run a complex gamut—from the dissatisfied couples for whom the present marriage, though flawed, is better than the alternative, to partners who inflict harm on each other. Thus the following recital of benefits applies to happy marriages, the ideal that so many people still seek.

Findings reaffirm that marriage relationships need to be built on righteous principles—“a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other,” in the words of the proclamation. It is clear that marriages based on righteous principles are the kind of marriages that lead to lasting happiness.

Of course, academic studies deal in objective statistics and trends, not exceptions. While happily married people may enjoy an advantage in the statistics, this does not mean a devoted husband or wife will automatically escape problems common to all human beings—illness, financial strain, anxiety, and so forth. Neither do the statistics indicate that single individuals—widowed, divorced, or never-married—cannot be happy or achieve meaningful lives with physical, emotional, and economic stability. As many never-married, divorced, or widowed Latter-day Saints have discovered, reliance on the Lord brings spiritual and other compensations that research cannot quantify.

What the current research does offer to a secular world is objective evidence to support the teachings of God through the ages by the mouths of His prophets. These studies enable beleaguered defenders of traditional marriage to add proof to moral and religious convictions when they are called on to defend marriage in a modern society that often rejects it as an institution, discounting or denying its moral basis. Moreover, the findings reported here can help couples appreciate the subtle but powerful blessings that can be theirs as they build their marriages on righteous principles.

Health and Longevity

Overall, married people live longer, a statistical reality that is true across many different cultures, societies, and demographic groups.⁷ Typically, married people suffer less from illness and disease and are better off when they do fall ill.⁸ In fact, even illness recovery rates for married individuals are much higher than in the unmarried population.⁹ Married men and women also exhibit fewer risk-taking behaviors such as drunk driving, smoking, or drug abuse and have lower rates of suicide and alcoholism.¹⁰

Some researchers argue that all of these benefits result merely from selectivity: the likelihood that already healthy individuals are selected into marriage. However, since research shows that positive health changes often take place after marriage, many individuals lean toward a causal, rather than a selection, theory: marriage itself causes good things to happen with one’s health.¹¹

Why? One psychology professor theorizes that the constant companionship between a husband and wife creates a “tranquilizing effect” which lessens the chances of disease, assists in recovery, and offers motivation to stay alive and well.¹² Other analysts see a “safety net” that encourages healthy behavior: spouses remind each other to eat well, establish regular sleep patterns, and see the doctor periodically.¹³

Men, in particular, benefit from such a safety net. While a woman’s statistical chance of dying decreases gradually over time once she marries, a man almost immediately upon marrying experiences a sharp statistical decrease in the hazard of dying. Researchers point to the improved lifestyle many men encounter in marriage, one which counteracts such tendencies as irregular meal and sleep habits and a lack of social integration.¹⁴

For those concerned only with eating right and exercising to stay healthy, marriage researcher John Gottman offers a suggestion that aptly summarizes the research: “Remember,” he says, “working briefly on your marriage every day will do more for your health and longevity than working out at a health club.”¹⁵

Mental Health and Peace of Mind

In general, married people exhibit lower rates of depression and suffer significantly less from psychiatric disorders.¹⁶ Married people also enjoy higher general well-being than any unmarried segment of the population. One researcher says, “No part of the unmarried population—separated, divorced, widowed, or never married—describes itself as being so happy and contented with life as the married.”¹⁷ These findings extend across racial, national, and socioeconomic class boundaries.

How to explain the correlation between marriage and happiness? Researchers point to several reasons, prime among them being the spiritual connection marriage offers to a couple’s deepest values. In many cultures, a wedding usually means not just a legal tie but also a sacred vow before God and a religious community. The union between man and wife, according to John Gottman, often brings “a spiritual dimension that has to do with creating an inner life together.”¹⁸ The deeper this shared spiritual meaning, the better the marriage, and the happier the people involved.

Some observers see a lasting marriage as offering a solid anchor in today’s rapidly changing, complex society. Men and women participate simultaneously as parents, in careers, in the community, and in hobbies. In marriage, social scientists suggest, people can successfully bring all of their different roles together: husbands and wives can discuss children’s problems, discuss work, and plan strategies for the future of family and career within a stable union which offers a secure base in a complicated world.¹⁹

Marriage also can promote mental well-being by offering an extended social network. Spouses may be able to lean on the spiritual and emotional resources of two families, in effect doubling their support system in both bad and good times.²⁰ Marriage can contribute to happiness by satisfying the deep human need for emotional closeness, providing a constant companion with whom to raise a family, go to church, and pray. It can also provide someone to take on the tasks one spouse is not good at—perhaps financial planning or cooking, for example—allowing each to focus on his or her strengths. This may sound simple, but experts say the “labor specialization” that comes in marriage works, and it does have an impact on peace of mind.²¹

Economic Security

Research findings show that marriage and financial security are interconnected. Getting and staying married offer strong economic advantages. Generally, married couples are better off financially and save more than divorced, never-married, and widowed households. Per capita, they tend to invest greater amounts for education or retirement.²²

Typically, married women are better off economically than single women. Much of that financial advantage comes because a husband, in general, has greater earning power in today’s society. When a marriage dissolves and there are children involved, the results can be devastating because single mothers are at a greater economic disadvantage.²³ But men also lose financially with divorce; a man’s financial well-being is greatly diminished, and later remarriage usually does not bring recovery.²⁴

Obviously, not all single or divorced individuals face economic difficulties, just as not all married couples are well-off or frugal. But the economic security that a stable marriage generally offers doesn’t mean being able to remodel the house every few years. It means greater access to food, clothing, health care, and education. It can also mean a secure life away from unsafe areas.

Studies unequivocally show that current levels of poverty result more from family structure than from economic factors. Where there is only one parent—usually a single mother—there is often poverty. Conversely, a stable, two-parent family, as the Progressive Policy Institute declares, “is [a] child’s best protection against poverty.”²⁵

Sexual Fulfillment

Evidence defies the deceptive notion, prevalent in society, that marriage is sexually repressive and that affairs outside of it are fulfilling. This lie persists from years past and is perpetuated by a constant stream of movies, television, and books depicting the staple tale of the philandering husband or wife looking for excitement outside an affectionless marriage. However, this media image of sex, according to a researcher involved in a landmark study on the subject, “bears virtually no relationship to the truth.”²⁶

The truth lies much closer to the proclamation’s strong affirmation that “the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.” Those who abide by this moral code are much better off than those who don’t, according to consistent findings of research published in sources such as The Journal of the American Medical Association and The National Health and Social Life Survey.

Faithfully married people report being extremely satisfied with the physical intimacy in their relationships, more so than all other sexually active people. Married men and women are least likely to associate sex with feelings of fear, anxiety, or guilt.²⁷ Also, unmarried couples who abstain from premarital sex are less likely to separate or divorce after marriage. Further, studies show that brides and grooms who have practiced chastity are less likely to have attitudes about marriage that contribute to adultery, divorce, and lower satisfaction with a married partner.²⁸

Conversely, says the research, those who abuse the sacred powers of procreation through premarital sex or living together ultimately find that the benefits of marriage do not extend to them.

While the late 20th century saw an enormous proliferation in the number of men and women living together without a marriage license, research data clearly show that cohabiting couples experience greater conflict, lower-quality relationships, less stability, and less equality for the women involved. Women who live with a man outside of marriage also experience much higher levels of depression and economic insecurity and are more likely to be forced into sexual relationships against their will. Both men and women involved in a cohabiting relationship report lower levels of sexual satisfaction, with infidelity a prime problem.²⁹

Further, when cohabiting couples do marry, they display very high divorce rates throughout the world, with one study finding that individuals who cohabit tend to marry, divorce, and then live with someone again. The marriage phase can often be marked by drunkenness, adultery, and drug abuse, and the cohabiting phase by a distinct separateness in handling finances, spending free time, and envisioning the future.³⁰

What of remarriage after divorce? Judging from the statistics, it does not generate all the benefits of a first marriage. Remarriages may be marked by higher instability and higher divorce rates than first marriages. However, remarriage after the death of a spouse tends to avoid these statistical hazards, and the stepfamily challenge for those whose spouses died is not as daunting as that faced by post-divorce stepparents.³¹

Yet to say that remarriages are statistically more difficult than first marriages does not mean that they are not preferable to remaining single or to other alternatives to marriage. Perhaps those who think it might be easier just to start over rather than deal with the challenges of a difficult first marriage should consider the statistics before getting divorced.

A Responsibility to Love and Care

While research studies clearly demonstrate that the satisfaction level of people in good marriages is high, the data hardly guarantee perfect physical health, constant happiness, complete financial security, or blissful intimate relationships. What the research reveals is general trends, and the findings also show that those positive trends are much more likely to flourish in a healthy marital atmosphere.

And just what is a “healthy marital atmosphere”? Studies of successful marriages indicate that it includes the following vital elements:

Religious commitment is a high predictor of marital happiness and promotes other qualities central to the success of a marriage.³²
Happily married couples realize that marriage and family life can be difficult. When problems arise, they tend to stay committed and sacrifice their own desires for the good of the family.³³
Successful couples have a good understanding of one another, defend each other, and respect each other’s opinions and choices.
Successful couples realize that family life may be difficult and burdensome, but despite the challenges of marriage, divorce is not viewed as a helpful option. A realistic couple refrains from imagining, when problems arise, “Oh, no! I haven’t married the right person after all!” or “If only we can manage to just stay in love!” Couples in love have problems, and the list of crucial characteristics of successful marriages does not include having found the perfect spouse or sustaining the emotional intensity of the honeymoon.
Even successful marriages deal with their share of “unsolvable” problems: fundamental differences in personalities, desires, and goals that are not going to be changed or solved. But lasting marriages succeed even in the face of “unsolvable” problems through forgiveness, compromise, tolerance, patience, and acceptance.
Lasting marriages successfully solve “solvable” problems—arising over everything from work schedules to trip locations—through discussions marked by “soft” beginnings void of harsh accusations. To calm escalating feelings, they also rely on “repair attempts”: tactful humor, conciliatory comments, or soothing gestures.³⁴
Successful marriages require maturity. Thus teenage marriages are much more likely to end in divorce than marriages formed when partners are more mature.³⁵
Happy marriages avoid tendencies that religious leaders have preached against through the ages: narcissism, adultery, worldliness, and contempt for God-given values.³⁶

Finally, studies show that lasting marriages rely on a deep friendship marked by positive feelings rather than negative ones. Feelings are important. As one writer states, “Because our actions reflect the whole climate of our minds, everything that contributes to that climate—which means all of our thoughts and actions, however ‘inconsequential’—is potentially of great importance.”³⁷ Positive thoughts, according to a lead researcher on marriage, contribute to a positive overflow in marriage that helps couples deal successfully with stressful tragedies as well as daily annoyances.³⁸

It is indeed a solemn responsibility to show the love and care needed to build this kind of successful relationship, for ultimately many of the blessings of marriage spring from our ability to share love.

The Glue of Society

Affection, security, and a long life with health and happiness—obviously, this is the marital ideal. Not all marriages will reach it, and not all marriages can or should be preserved. But couples who completely abandon the ideal pay high costs, including increased physical, mental, and emotional problems for themselves and tragic consequences of divorce for their children.³⁹ Society suffers, too, from the loss of the ideal, because marriage not only strengthens communities and benefits economies, but also ensures responsible sexual union by keeping parents attached to their children.⁴⁰

In many ways, marriage is the glue holding society together. Even more important, it is an eternal principle that all of us—whether single or married—need to uphold and defend. It benefits not only husbands and wives but the entire world.

This should come as no surprise, since it was ordained and blessed by God Himself.

Elizabeth VanDenBerghe, "Happiness, Health, and Marriage", Ensign, Aug. 2001, 29

love on broadway

2011-02-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

more love quotes

2011-02-07T11:04:00.002-07:00

Love is a symbol of eternity that wipes away all sense of time, removing all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.

Love: two minds without a single thought.

Love is life- and if you miss out on love- you miss out on life.

Love is a gift of one's inner most soul to another, so both can be whole.

To love is to admire with the heart- to admire is to love with the mind.

Love is like an hourglass with the heart filling up as the brain empties.

Love is like the truth; sometimes it prevails-- sometimes it hurts.

Love is the master key which opens the gates of heaven.

Love is the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend.

Love is a universal migraine; a bright stain on our vision, blotting out all reason.

love one another

2011-02-06T08:12:00.002-07:00

a few quotes about kissing

2011-02-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

Kisses are the words that cannot be written.

Is not a kiss the very autograph of love?

The kiss originated when the first male reptile licked the first female reptile, implying ina subtle, complimentary way that she was as succulent as the small reptile he had the night before.

Kissing is like drinking salt water; you drink and your thirst increases.
(This quote is appropriate for the above picture because it was taken on the balcony of cruise ship- so it has kissing and salt water!)

A kiss without a hug is like a flower without the fragrance.

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.

A kiss is just a pleasant reminder that two heads are better than one.

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

i love my sisters!!!

2011-02-04T07:47:00.001-07:00

Listen to this song while you look at these pictures:

I am so happy to have sisters in my life! They are awesome and fantastic and wonderful and I love them to bits!

(Me & Kake before a trip up to the snow)

My sister Katie is super awesome! We used to everything together before I got married- I miss getting to hang out with her so much. She rocks. She is one of the sweetest and most considerate people I know- don't get her riled up though! She's a tough girl! But I don't usually mind because I know she's got my back- just like I got hers. LOVE YOU KATIE!!!!

(Jessica & Katie before the show started when we went to see Wicked)

We didn't always get along when we were kids- but now that we're all grown up we get along a lot better.

(me & Katie at Wicked)

(All 3 of us! This picture always makes me laugh! Katie was obviously sick of taking picture at this point!)

( me & Katie at home "Hey look a camera- let's take a weird myspace picture")

(me & Katie again- sittin on the couch- happy about something... probably about being awesome sisters!!)

There are a TON of pictures of me and Katie!!! I posted a lot of them on here, but I didn't even come close to posting all of the ones we have taken over the years! We would take pictures of ourselves all the time when we living at home together; every occasion called for a picture- even playing with the dog on the living room floor early Saturday morning!

(Sitting in the back of Aunt Lara's truck)

(3 fabulous sisters!)

(Jessica & Katie telling secrets)
This picture was taken at Applebee's. They were sitting across the table from me and I am not sure what they are talking about it in this picture, but I always had the suspicion that they were talking about me and my boyfriend that was down here visiting from Montana. I don't think they liked him much.

(Jessica and Katie taking a break from their gossiping to take picture with baby Mel)

(My sistahs with me on my wedding day! So happy they could be there)

(Me & Kake at Disneyland for Christmas! Our face paint is FANTASTIC! Don't pretend like you're not jealous!)

(Katie and me posing on the "A"- because it's the first and most important letter of the alphabet! ....and because there is no S, T, or K in California..."

(Me and Kate again- we are so silly together!)

(Katie, the Indian on Main Street USA, and me- we couldn't miss such a photo op)

(Me and my sister, the democrat!! Yikes! I still love her though)

The shorts Katie is wearing in this picture reminded me of one her many funny quotes- she says hilarious things all time:
"They aren't even that short! My butt isn't even showing!"
hahaha.

(The 3 of us at Wicked again. We had a lot of spare time before this show apparently)

(Probably one of the best pictures EVER!)

(Me & Jess)

Jessica will probably tell you she looks fat in the picture. She doesn't! She had just had a baby a couple months before- I think she looks fabulous. Jessica is awesome- just like Katie. She amazes me all the time- she is like super mom! She has 2 little girls that are only like a year apart- her house is almost always clean- and she cooks too! She's a little helper bee- always there when you need her. LOVE YA SICA!

(Most recent picture of all of us- you would never guess we are sisters- we look nothing alike!)

(When we were young!)

(Jess & I)
We've been together through good times...and some times that apparently weren't so good!

(Me and Jess playing in Grandma's backyard)

(Jess and me when we were really young!)

(Jessica helping me paint my vase at a trip to "The Wish" with Kassi)

(HAHAHAHA- Katie and Me)
So we were watching Signs one night and were in a silly mood- so we got out my mom's aluminum foil and made ourselves helmets to the aliens wouldn't be able to read our minds. As you can imagine- a photo shoot followed! My mom wasn't too thrilled when she found out the next morning how much of her foil we had wasted- but we had fun none the less!!

(Jessica and me eating our toasty marshmallows!)

(All 3 of us on Jessica's wedding day! We had a fabulous day of beauty on that day- makeup and hair- it was fun! I am glad that we were able to experience that together! One day we will have picture of the 3 of us at Katie's wedding!)

(Us at my bachelorette party!! Virgin drinks all around!)

This month about LOVE wouldn't be complete without a post about how much I LOVE my sisters. I can't imagine my life without them. I am so incredibly proud of both of them and the choices they have made in their lives. They are both such strong ladies and have been through so much. They inspire me all the time to be a better person. I love my lil' sizzles!

a few good love songs

2011-02-03T07:58:00.001-07:00

"Cause when I thought I'd got it wrong, yeah
You somehow make things right
That's the way you make me feel
That's better than I've ever known it
Better than it's ever been
I can't seem to control it, no
That's the way you make me feel
Like the sun coming up in the morning
Like holding the world in your hands
In a way I could never imagine, yeah
That's the way you make me feel "

"Share the laughter, share the tears,
We both know we`ll grow old from here;
'Cause together we are strong,
In my arms, that's where you belong.
I've been touched by the hands of an angel,
I've been blessed by the power of love,
And whenever you smile I can hardly believe that your mine!"

"Well, for me it's waking up beside you;
To watch the sunrise on your face,
To know that I can say I love you
at any given time or place.
It's little things that only I know-
Those are the things that make you mine!
And it's like flying without wings
'Cause you're my special thing
I'm flying without wings"

"I hope you don't mind that I put down in words,
How wonderful life is while you're in the world"

"Unexpected, I'm not used to chasing dreams and catching them.
All of a sudden I'm the winner in the end.
I'm used to every door I open closing;
always making sure I'm not supposing
I can't believe I'm really here"

a few love quotes...

2011-02-02T07:00:00.001-07:00

Love is placing your heart in someone's hand- giving them the power to destroy you- and trusting them not to.

Love is a fire, but whether it's going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.

Love is when you don't want to sleep because reality is better than any dream.

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.

Love is like playing the piano. First, you learn to play the rules. Then, you must forget the rules and play from the heart.

Love is friendship set on fire!

Love is like pi; natural, irrational, and very important.

Love is the sun coming out of the clouds and warming your soul.

Love is a sign from the heavens that you are here for a reason.

We're all a little weird, and life's a little weird-- and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness and call it love-- true love. <3

love is AWESOME!

2011-02-01T09:12:00.004-07:00

So, we have entered the second month of the year (already?!?!?!)- February! The month of Valentines Day!! The holiday celebrating love! I love Love. Love is awesome. When I was in high school- or maybe junior high- I don't remember- I started collecting love quotes. I have always loved love songs. Love movies aren't bad either!

So I have decided that everyday this month I am going to post something Love related! <3 <3 <3

To start the month I will share something I wrote my senior year in my college prep writing class. We had to pick a simile and then write a paper about it. The simile I chose was:

Love is Like Water

Love is like water. No matter where you go, you'll be able to find it. It's a concept accepted by all cultures. All living things need it to survive; it's an essential element of all life. Love strengthens, refreshes, and helps things to grow. Love extinguishes the angry flames of sorrow within the soul. Although it is universally understood what love is made of, it's not something that can be created in a science lab. It's a part of who we are. There are huge amounts of it on the planet, but only a very small percentage is the true, thirst quenching love that everyone longs for. Love is all around us; love is like water.

I can't believe it's been 7 years since I wrote that. Craziness!! Anyway- I hope you liked it and I hope you will check back in and see what other lovey stuff I have in store this month!

bread!!!

2011-01-21T09:58:00.003-07:00

So here is a little update on my resolutions: I could be doing much better! But I am trying! The good part about goals is that even when you get de-railed on them there is always time to get back on track!

I did manage to do something AWESOME in the first few weeks of the year though! I did something new!

I made bread in my bread maker for the very first time. WHEAT bread! Yum. The bread maker has been sitting my cupboard gathering dust for like a year. We bought it because Nathan wanted it- but he only used it one time. I didn't know how to use it- adn we lost the manual, but thanks to the internet I was able to find the manual online and try it out!

It turned out pretty well! I might have to do this bread thing more often. Perhaps I can start making bread every week and using it for Nathan's sandwiches that he takes for lunch! Hmmmm I might have to talk to him about that...

In other random news- my sister and her girls came over after church last Sunday and we had a great time. We played games, blew bubbles, ate homemade bread, AND I got to play makeup artist! I love doing over the top make up on my nieces!

Jessica and Bethany matched! For as young a Beth is- she does an AWESOME job at getting her makeup done. Usually kids make it really difficult- especially for eyeliner and mascara- but not B! She rocks.

Mel on the other hand was not as cooperative. We did a little on her eyes and then she wimped out and said she didn't want it anymore. She wound up rubbing most of it off by the time we left. Stinker.

Jessica and Bethany looked fabulous though! Jessica did their hair in "Snookie Bumps" to complete the look- it was fantastic. Fun times.

beginning of the year randomness....

2011-01-03T22:11:00.005-07:00

Well, as gung ho as I was about setting some awesome resolutions- my plans were stalled out by some tiny ugly germs!!

--------------------
PSA about Tiny Ugly Germs:

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

Ok, I did not eat dirty food off the ground- but those buggers got in my system somehow and made me sick. Nathan too! So I have spent the first few days of the new year worrying more about taking these things...

...than worrying about of my resolutions! The good news is- I am starting to feel better, so my plan is start in on my list of awesomeness starting tomorrow morning! Full steam ahead! woohoo!

While we were feeling a bit under the weather- Nathan and I found new and exciting ways to entertain ourselves- like wrapping our dogs up in a blanket and seeing how long it takes them to find their way out!

First victim, Little Dave:

Then- Buster! He was a bit smarter about it than Dave, so Nathan had to raise the bar and make it a bit more challenging for Buster Mustard. Unfortunately, the memory card filled up before Buster was able to make his escape:

I went grocery shopping tonight and stocked up a bunch of stuff. I thought we were stocked on stuff before, but found out the hard way that a lot of the things that I thought were non-perishable actually do have an expiration date! I threw a bunch of stuff away- but now our shelves are full again- and not only are they full, but they are also ORGANIZED!

We finally got the shelves cut for the pantry so things are all tidy and grouped and stacked and wonderful! I can actually find things now without digging! It's so wonderful.

OH! And look what I discovered tonight while I was shopping:

CRUNCHY Hazelnut Spread with cocoa! How have I gone my entire life without knowing that this existed?! So freaking good! It's like Ferrero Rocher in a jar!! What could be better?!And it's cheaper than buying the chocolates too. =p
That's all for now.

2011: the year of AWESOME!

2011-01-01T01:25:00.004-07:00

Alright- so I have decided that I have been too negative lately- really down in the dumps! If you only really keep up with us on the blog, you probably haven't noticed because I don't have much time to blog. If you are a facebook friend- you may have noticed a little bit more. I have tried to hide my grumpiness the best I can when I am around other people, but I personally have noticed it a lot. I have had my priorities all out of whack. I have basically let our business run my life for the past 6 months and have lost hold of a lot of other things that are important to me and that keep me sane. It took an absolutely epic melt down for me to really figure this out. So, the last 2 weeks of 2010 I have been thinking things through, and I am declaring the year 2011...

the Year of Awesome!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen! You read correctly- we are going to have 52 weeks of pure awesomeness! Or at least we are going to try or darnedest! I am going to try my very best to have a more positive outlook on things and to find the good in things; think happy thoughts!

haha... that just made me think of this:

good song. ok, sorry for that a.d.d. moment- back to what I was saying- I am making some changes- all for the better- and this year is going to be awesome! ...because I said so!!

How am I going to make it awesome? Well let's start by making 11 awesome resolutions!

1. Put God first- back where he belongs! When I said before that I had let the business take over- I meant it. EVERYTHING else got pushed aside, including the really important things like daily prayers and scripture study, regularly attending ALL my church meetings, going to the temple, etc.

Why I stopped doing these things to begin with is beyond me- I have proven it to myself over and over again that when I do these things I am way happier and more pleasant to be around. So, these things go to the top of the priority list from now on!

I am going to start everyday with prayers and reading some scriptures and every end every day with prayers too! I am going to make an effort to go to all my church meetings (even though they start at 8:30 am now!!) and make super sure tithing gets paid. And I am going to try and make it to the temple at least twice a month, if not more. We really have no excuse on this one- we live less than 5 minutes away; we are even off the same road about 3.5 miles apart.

2. Get in shape! I know I share this resolution with like half the world- and I have been saying I am going to do it for a while now, but I am really determined this time. I have gained so much weight since we have gotten married- it's really embarrassing. I don't even feel good about myself anymore- and I know that by getting into a work out routine will help me drop some pounds and improve my mood. I want to be able to run a mile without stopping by the end of the year or sooner; I wasn't even able to ever do that in high school, though I never really tried that hard to accomplish it then. I also want to be able to 100 push ups before the end of the year. My visiting teacher shared a link on facebook of a training program that can supposedly get you there in only 6 weeks, but we'll see how that goes with my busy schedule.

3. Eat more veggies! Another thing that I have proven to myself over and over- when I eat better I feel better. I really actually love veggies too- I just got out of the habit of eating them because my hubbie doesn't like them and fast food has gotten too convenient with all the time spent up at the shop... which leads me to my next resolution...

4. Bye bye fast food! Hello cook books! I have been addicted to collecting recipes for a while, and I have decided that this year I will put them to good use. I am going to nip my fast food habit in the bud by simply spending my food money at the grocery store and trying out all these recipes I have gathered from the internet, and cooking magazines, and cook books! And I will try to use the veggies from resolution 3 as much as possible- and I will try to hide them too, so Nathan will eat them and not even know they are there. =p If I come across some fantastic recipes- of course I will share on the b-l-o-g.

5. Try new things! Life is short- and I find myself doing the same things over and over sometimes. When we go to restaurants I usually order "my usual"- I watch the same shows on tv all the time, I play the same games all the time, do the same things for dates- I wanna shake it up and try at least one new thing every month. I, of course, will post these new things on the blog and give my verdict. I am not guaranteeing that I will like all the new things that I try- but I will try them!

6. I am breaking up with Facebook! I have spent waaaaay too much time on facebook- actually, let me rephrase that- I have WASTED waaaaaaay too much time on facebook! I am sad to say that I am one of those miserable people that got sucked in and addicted. It has been one of the first things I do in my day- check facebook- check my facebook games! Not anymore. I am not deleting my account, because it is a lovely way to keep in touch and see what everyone is up to, but I am limiting the amount of time I spend on facebook each day to 15 minutes or less. That gives me plenty of time to see if I have any messages and read everyone's status updates for the day- I may even be able to squeeze in a game or two of bejewled blitz- but that is all. No more than 15 minutes! There are far better and more productive things I should be doing.

7. When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God. I will look for service opportunities as often as I can. I really do spend an awful lot of time thinking about myself. I am going to take as many chances as I can to think of others and do some service. I am going to miss being a primary teacher- but I really think there is a reason that I was called to be on the humanitarian committee in relief society. I think it's going to be a great learning and growing experience. =)

8. Wash that mouth out with soap! well- figuratively speaking! Please don't actually put soap in my mouth! I am going to do my best to stop swearing- it's another one of those bad habits that I fall in and out of- and taking over the pottery business threw me back into it. Now it's time to climb out and clean up my act. Someone once told me, back when I was a beehive, that there is no beautiful way to say a swear word. They are ugly words and you simply can't sound beautiful with those words coming out of your mouth.- This is a very true statement.

9. "Get ready for the 10 second tidy!" While running the business my house seemed to fall into disarray. It's amazing how dirty your house can get when it seems like you are never home! Luckily, I was able to find time over my Christmas break to get my house somewhat in order. Now, my goal is to keep it that way. Take a few minutes before bed every night and make sure everything is tidied up. Make sure the counters are de-cluttered and wiped down, dishes are at least in the sink, clothes are in the hampers, towels hung in their appropriate places, etc. And I am going to at least try and make my bed in the morning. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the organization of my entire day is better when my bed is made.

10. More time for just the two of us! =D Now that Nathan and I aren't together 24 hours a day, I want to make sure that we make time for just the 2 of us. I was looking at pictures from our engagement and when we were first hitched- and we look so happy and smiley in all of them. We've gotten too business- we need to make time to enjoy eachother and be happy together and not worry about work all the time- we still need to run a profitable business of course, but also have to find the time to relax and let loose a bit. I love love love spending time, just me and my husband!

Side note: Nathan's one and only resolution? More "alone time" with his wife. wink wink (he didn't think I would post it! haha)

11. Build and strengthen friendships. I have fallen out of touch with so many of my friends and just am not as close as I would like to be with others. I want to build those relationships up. If you are reading this- you are probably one of those people! Can you do me a favor? If there is anything on my list of resolutions that you would also like to work on this year- tell me! Let's be each other's resolution buddies! I know it's going to be hard for me to tackle all these things completely on my own- I am willing to take any help I can get, especially if it means making more friends along the way. Either comment on this post, email me, text me, or send me a message on facebook; help me make this year awesome! Pleeeeeeeeeease? =D I really hope you will- even if it's a long distance thing, we can work something out.

So there are my 11 resolutions for 2011. I really truly hope that I hear from some friends and family soon that can help me reach my goals! Let's do it together; make 2011 the year of AWESOME!!!

new years eve!!

2011-01-01T01:12:00.006-07:00

We decided to invite everyone in our family over for new years eve!! Unfortunately, not everyone could make it- but it was still a fun time. Nathan's sister Amy, and her family came, and so did his parents. Later on my aunt Lara and cousin Jared came- and towards the end of the night my folks showed up too.

We had a TON of food! That's the main reason I was hoping more people would show up. The 14 of us- plus the pups- did manage to polish a lot of it of this off though.

We had....

Mini margarita cupcakes. Well, they were supposed to be- they wound up tasting more like lime cupcakes. They were tasty either way.

Jalepeno poppers and bacon wrapped jalepenos. (The Lunt side of the family likes spicy!) I'm not usually a jalepeno fan- but they were both pretty tasty, even if they set my mouth on fire a little bit. =p

Bacon and chive stuffed mini tomatoes! I wish these weren't so time consuming to make; they are one of my favorites and super delish!

Southwestern turkey sliders.

Bagel pizza bites- that look like they may have been just slightly over cooked.

AND some yummy taco dip!

See, I told you it was a lot of food! My aunt also brought some bacon/cheese/artichoke tarts that I wasn't able to get a picture of. And my mom & dad brought over some macaroni & cheese bites that were quite a hit as well.

We watched a few episodes of that old cartoon, Rugrats, on Netflix through the wii and braved the freezing cold weather to do some fireworks!

You'll have to forgive my video- for some reason it didn't register in my head that if I held our super old camera sideways that video would turn out sideways. It looked good on the little camera screen...when I was holding it sideways! I feel like a big dork- but anyway- here is a little video of just one of the many, many fireworks we shot off:

Once we got through ALL of the fireworks, it was pretty late and our guest headed home. (They wanted to get home and be off road before all the crazy drunks started driving home too!)

Nathan and I rang in the new year at home on the couch with our little Dave & Buster. We drank some sparkling cider and went out front to see a variety of fireworks going off throughout the neighborhood and to set off the last few that we had of our own.

I tried to get a picture of a new year's kiss- but apparently we aren't as good at the kissing pictures as we used to be! =/ We just got a bunch of goofy ones!

Happy New Year from Nathan & Tarin!! <3

a short christmas post

2010-12-29T19:30:00.004-07:00

I am glad Christmas is over- this year wasn't one of my favorites- but I did want to post some pictures from the season.

Our Christmas tree. I like it- I think it turned out pretty! Next year I want a tall skinny tree- I am keeping an eye out for a good deal. We don't have a ton of space for a tree. We had to do some rearranging to make this one fit.

We put the train out again this year- we didn't have the space for it to go around the tree, so it went back and forth across the room.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..." too bad Santa fell victim to the economy this year! They were just for decoration, not for present holding. haha I managed to get 4 of my little holy families up on the mantle too!

This is one of my favorite nativities that I own. It's a music box. =)

Nathan and I decided not to exchange gifts this year, to save some money- we were fortunate enough to get some great gifts from our loving family though. I wasn't able to take pictures of everything, but here are few of our fantastic gifts: (P.S.- just because a gift isn't featured on the blog doesn't mean we didn't love as much as the ones that were! I am just to lazy to go find them all!)

I got these marvelous rubber gloves in my stocking from my side of the family. If you know me at all- you know that I HATE getting my hands wet. I have a phobia of finger wrinkles- so whoever got me these THANK YOU! It makes cleaning my kitchen so much more bearable now!

Santa also got us some new scrabble games! I have been meaning to get my hands on these. I am sure they will get a lot of use. I <3 scrabble!

I am pretty sure it was my Aunt Lara who got me the mini chandelier- since she has one too! =) This little baby is gonna be hanging from my rear view mirror soon. Car bling!!! w00t!

And last of the gift photos- but certainly not least, we have the temple picture that Nathan's sister Amy made us (she took the pic and made the frame and everything! how sweet is that?!) and underneath is some fabulous potpourri that my mommy in law got me. It smells fantastic! I sat my fake candle in it. I love it.

And now my friends, I leave you with my all time favorite Christmas song. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and wish you the happiest of new years!

christmas eve snow trip

2010-12-29T18:39:00.006-07:00

On Christmas Eve, we thought it might be fun to go play in some....

SNOW!!!

And we were right. It was pretty fun. Here are some pics from our day:

Dave & Buster cuddled up in the backseat for the long drive. Dave doesn't like car rides at all so I can imagine he must have hated being in the car for a couple hours straight!

I kept myself entertained part of the time by taking random pictures.

Nathan looks like he's in a hurry to get up there!

and I am just happy to be along for the ride.

Nathan is such a goober!

I wonder if my eyebrow tastes delicious?

I was getting worried for a while that there wasn't going to be any snow to play in- but we finally saw some on the side of the road:

Yay!

The pups were excited to finally be out of the car!

Here is the snowman we built. Not too shabby!

Mostly we just watched the dogs run around- they absolutely loved it! I was worried at first about letting Little Dave run free- he has a tendency to run off, but he did fine! We met Marvin & Sarah up there, so they had their dog cousins to run around with.

Here is a video of them running around in the snow:

And here is a video of Nathan trying to take Dave down the hill on the sled with him... Fail! lol

Marvin & Sarah brought a camping stove and made some hot dogs for lunch.

We tried to get the dogs to do some tricks for hot dogs; TRIED being the operative word. There was so much going on around them, they were having a hard time focusing.

Then we had to turn around and come back home. We had to get to dinner at other Lunt house by 6 pm. On the way back I snapped some pics of the snow on the tree out the window. I have only seen snow on trees like that on Christmas cards! I am such a desert rat! haha

It was a fun day. As usual, I wish I had taken more pictures- especially of the sledding, but my fingers were cold! Being a better picture taker should be one of my new years resolutions!

guessing game

2010-12-27T23:00:00.002-07:00

If you hadn't heard yet- Nathan started a new job at Everest Online University as an admissions rep- leaving lil ol' me to run Distinctly Lunt on my own. And just so you know- this is a fantastic thing! We aren't closing our business or anything like that- just downsizing a bit to make it more manageable and with Nathan's new job we get awesome benefits! woohoo!

So anyway, like I was saying- he started this new job and after he was done with his training one of the first little team build exercises he did with his new team was "Guess how old Nathan is..."

This is the closest picture I could find to what he looked like at the time (I am pretty sure he had the goatee- it keeps disappearing and appearing randomly:)

He told everyone a little bit about himself- things like he's married, owns his own business, held a management position for like 5 years, etc. Can you guess the average age???

31!

Crazy, right?! I know he has a pretty impressive resume for 23 and the facial hair makes him look a little older- but I didn't think it added 8 years! The youngest guess was 20 and the oldest guess was 39. Whoever guessed 39 had to have been smoking something- no freaking way he looks even close to 40- though I do find an occasional gray hair on his head....

When Nathan told me about that I just thought it was funniest thing. I thought you all would get a kick out of it too.

christmas card- merry christmas!

2010-12-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Well- here is our Christmas card... I had every intention of mailing them out to all our family and friends with personalized messages but alas- time has run out. I can't believe it's Christmas eve already! We have been so busy with work we haven't had time to do any holiday stuff- kind of a bummer.

Believe it or not- I have actually had the card made since back in October, I added the picture back when we got family photos done in November, I downloaded it beginning of December-- and that's as far as I got.

We do want all of you to know how much we love and care about you this holiday season. We are grateful for all your love and support as we have been working on maintaining and growing our business. I don't think you can understand how much your help and support has meant to us these past 7 months. If we had the time and the means we would deliver this card to everyone with a big Christmas hug! Love you all!!

<3 <3 <3
Tarin & Nathan

25 years!

2010-12-24T04:22:00.010-07:00

This post should have been done a while ago, but better late than never I guess!

Back on November 29th, my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. It's kinda a big deal- that's one of the important ones; the silver anniversary- so we decided to do a few special things for them.

First, Nathan and I decided we would arrange a family photo shoot. My family hasn't had a real family picture since I was like 10- we have added 2 husbands and 2 babies since then, and obviously have all changed a lot! It was time for some new pics that my parents could hang on the wall. Here are a few for you to check out:

(my nieces are so stinkin' cute! it's ridiculous!!)

(you would never guess we are sisters- we look NOTHING alike. lol- but we love eachother to pieces. That's what really matters)

(I think my dad is really happy to have some other guys in the family now)

(This is Nathan's favorite)

Our photographers were fantastic! If you like the pics, check out their website. They did a great job- and their prices are pretty reasonable.

A few weeks later, we had a surprise anniversary party planned for them. I am super lame, so I didn't have a camera prepared to take pictures. Luckily my Aunt Lara was able to get a few on her phone. It was pretty awesome:

This was my anniversary present to my parents, aside from the photo- shoot. A BIG wall sign with a couple of the family photos. "All because two people fell in Love" I thought it turned out pretty well for having to throw it together last minute- dang work schedule!

A couple shots of the fabulous food line. We had a TON of stuff. 3 types of cupcakes, cream puffs, cheesecake bites, fruit cups, brownie buttons, fudge, cherry and apple turnovers, and one of my dad's favorites: creme brule!

We also had a hot chocolate bar with a few different flavors, marshmallows, wafer sticks, whipped cream, and chocolate dipped spoons!

We used as much silver as we could in the decorations- thank goodness it was around Christmas time- it made that part fairly easy. The hardest part about the decorations was finding old photos of my parents. I put random pictures of them from throughout their marriage all over the place. Hanging on walls and sitting on tables as part of the center pieces. All framed too!

We had been planning this for like a year, we tried really hard to keep it mostly a secret- especially from my mom. My dad helped us get a guest a list together (since we don't know all my parent's friends and their addresses and stuff.)

I think my mom was surprised. It was pretty funny when she walked in the door she looked so confused. She thought she was going out to dinner with a couple from my parents ward. They told her they had to stop at this church building to drop something off to one of the bishops. As they walked up my mom was like "This is the building we had our reception at 25 years ago." Then she walked in and saw me and Jess and Nathan- and was like "What are you doing you here?" She just looked so confused! It was funny! Then they walked in the cultural hall and everyone started clapping. It was cute.

There was a pretty good turn out- probably like 40-50 people? I am not sure, I was too busy chit chatting, and keeping the food full to count. There was family, friends from the past, friends from the ward, and even friends from my dad's work! It was pretty neat! They got lots of cool gifts too. =)

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! From your favorite oldest daughter!

boogie down with the lunts!

2010-12-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas, from the Lunt family!

just the song i've needed lately...

2010-11-16T09:33:00.005-07:00

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six feet under screaming
But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you
Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gunna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe the reason why all the doors are closed
So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gunna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y