HAWAII 2008

As promised, I have finally sat down to the computer to post some of our Hawaii pics! We had an awesome time! We went snorkeling, surfing, hiking, we had a beach fire and roasted marshmallows, we got Matsumoto's Shaved Ice, we went to Pearl Harbor, shopping, a a big family Thanksgiving dinner and lots more! It was a wonderful 10 days! We were able to go back to the spot where Spencer proposed, which was fun! I can't wait to go back again next year....

This is the Erin and Spencer beach where we got engaged.

This is at the top of Diamond Head.

Sunset on Sunset Beach

Isn't it beautiful?

Spencer in his cop goggles (notice the mustache to go with it) and I on the Arizona Memorial.

Brother and Sister in law Jake and Jessica, and their baby Bella.

Brother and Sister in law Josh and Roberta and their kids Isaac and Robert.

Goofy Family picture, don't laugh it was a windy day....

Serious family picture

Oriental women loved our American babies!

Brother and sister in law Beki and Vaun and their kids Cole and Madison.

LDS Temple in Hawaii.

This frog was hopping up the stairs at the temple.

Rock Band

Husband Tag

1) Where did you meet? We met in my apartment, I was asleep on the couch and the smell of the brownies he and his roommates brought over woke me up. I was still groggy, but not groggy enough that I couldn't see that I liked him. I even told him that I liked his laugh.

2) How long till you got married? We knew eachother for a little over a year before we got married. 4 months of that was engagement.

3) How long have you been married? about a year and a half.

4) Your favorite feature of his? His eyes, his freckles.

5) Your favorite quality of his? ALL of them. He is super funny, he is kind to everyone he meets! His lack of fashion sense, his dancing, his singing in the shower, his motivation, his optimism.

6) Does he have a nickname for you? Yes, but I will keep that one to myself.

7) His favorite food? Hmm... he loves his special mashed potatoes recipes! He loves steak, well, most meats (what guy doesn't). He hates cereal (sad I know), eggs and V8 juice...Oh and Mayonaisse.

8) What is his favorite sport to watch? All of them, Im not kidding, it's amazing how long that guy can watch sports.

9) When was your first kiss? Uh, I can't give a date, but it happened in my living room.

10) Whats your favorite thing to do as a couple? Laugh mostly. Spend time with friends, and talk. Ohh.. how cute, I know :)

11) Do you have kids? No

12) Does he have a hidden talent? Dancing, surpring me with gifts.

13) How old is he? 29

14) Who said I love you first? He did. Im a sissy.

15) What do you admire most about him? Everything. He is the perfect guy... cheesy I know but it is true...

16) What is his favorite type of music? 80's rock. Rush mostly...

17) Do you think he will read this? Yes, but it might take him a few weeks to notice it

18) I tag Camille K., Katie S., Courtney and Marci Norris (this will let me get to know you better :)

Hawaii, last time, and this time, almost...

Last time we went to Hawaii, something very exciting happened... Spencer and I got engaged. In honor of our upcoming Hawaii trip I would like to tell the story....

On June 16, 2007, we left for Hawaii. We got there on a Sunday night and just visited family a little while before we went to bed. Hawaii was so much fun! We went to Pearl Harbor, Hanauma Bay and went snorkeling, Polynesian Cultural Center, the Hawaii Temple, Dole Pineapple Plantation, Swap meet, and the beach several times. We also went snorkeling at a place called sharks cove. JR (Spencer's brother) took me surfing on North Shore. We went to a place called the blow hole, which was cool, we tried to go hiking but the trail was closed by the time we got there. JR just let us use his car, so it was just Spencer and I most of the time.

Monday, the day after we got there, was the day Spencer proposed. I thought for sure that it would be toward the end of the week, because I thought that the ring was not done yet and that his mom was going to Fed Ex it to us sometime that week. Boy was I wrong. Before we left, his mother gave us some stuff to give to JR. One of the packages contained the ring, that I carried the whole time!! That Spencer is soo tricky! Anyway, Monday night after we had gone exploring and seeing all there is to see, Spencer asked JR where a beach was that we could go to, and we went. I didn’t think anything of it, but it sure was a beautiful night. The sun was just setting, I took so many pictures and even a video. Spencer kept asking me if I wanted to walk here or there and I didn’t understand why. Eventually everyone around kind of cleared out and we walked over to this place made of rocks that jetted out into the water. We talked for a minute and then he hugged me and said some sweet things, then he asked me if I would marry him and pulled out the little box and opened it up and showed me a beautiful ring. ( He didn’t kneel, cause I had told him before that I didn’t want him to, I’d rather be face to face.) I was so surprised that he had the ring and everything just took me by surprise and I said “shut up!” I reached for the ring and he said “ you can’t have it till you say yes”. (This is really making me laugh, reminiscing like this).. So I said yes and we put it on. We stayed out on the beach a while longer and just soaked it in, and then we headed back to JR and Valerie’s house. As soon as we got there Valerie and JR were waiting just inside the front door and asked to see my hand. They were excited and congratulated us! It was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had!

This is the night we got engaged!

Well, we are now going back to Hawaii, a year and a half later...I am so excited because we will get to go back to the spot where I made the best decision I have ever made, to marry Spencer!

See you in December!

Who names their child Le-a?

I saw this on our friends blog and had to post it... thanks Paul and Melanie!

Le-a

How would you pronounce that name in the title? You would say "Leah," right? Think again.Paul heard a story today about a woman in Louisiana who was suing the school district because everyone pronounced her daughter's name wrong. It was spelled "Le-a". In the newspaper article about the lawsuit, the mother was quoted saying, "The dash ain't silent!" That's right folks. Her name was pronounced "La-dash-a."

Finances, thank goodness its over... and it's snowing, but not in Hawaii

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the future...in specific, the R word... you guessed it, RETIREMENT. Now, I know some of you are thinking that it is way too early to be thinking of retirement, but really it's not. There are so many things to consider when thinking about retirement...rates of return, inflation, life expectancy, quality of life, cost of living, employer contribution, lack of Social Security Benefits etc. I have been thinking a lot about these things lately and am feeling a little stressed out. I know, I know, retirement is a long way off and who knows how things will change before then.... BUT I do know, that to have a decent, retired life, you must plan early. So, where do I start? Well, Spencer and I are thinking of meeting with a financial advisor of some sort, so we can get this whole thing organized. Does anyone know someone who does this, and is good at it? I can't wait to get this all figured out I will sleep better.... both now and when I retire!

Also, does anyone else feel like this last presidential elections campaigning was the longest of all time?? My gosh, I feel like I have been listening to the same arguments for decades. Well, after all this work for both parties, the election is over and regarless of who won or didn't win I am SO GRATEFUL it is over.....ahh...a sigh of relief....


In other news, we got the first snow of the season last night. It was beautiful! AND there are officially 15 days until we leave for Hawaii..... another sigh of relief...


Okay, so we didn't get this much, but maybe on top of Timp..
Ahh Hawaii awaits....

We are not white trash.....nope

So I have to give you a little backround before I allow myself to post this picture... If nothing else it will give you a good laugh...

We are in the process of remodeling our bathroom, so we took down the old wallpaper that was there (as well as some of the drywall that came with it). Then, this morning after I left for work, Spencer sent me a text saying that we were out of toilet paper, and he included this picture...

Yes, that is a roll of paper towels on the back of the toilet... and yes, I am pretty sure this verifies that we are indeed...white trash...

Pumpkin Carving and Hot Chocolate...

Last night we went over to our friends Jethro & Robyn's house for pumpkin carving and hot chocolate! There were about 10 of us over there and each couple did a pumpkin together. Except for Spencer and I because I saw this pattern in Better Homes and Gardens Maganzine that I have been thinking about for weeks and I really wanted to try! So... we had a fun night of pumpkin carving! I love this time of year!!

Mine is the one in the middle, in case you can't tell, its a haunted house,there is a witch in the bottom left window and a a ghost in the top right window.. okay so it looks better with the lights on!

In Lue of the Anniverary

I just wanted to world to know that this has been the best year of my life. Even better than the year in which Santa came twice. So to honor the year and my kick butt marriage I've decided to let the world know why I'm the best husband ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. I've made every Wednesday night choreographed dance night. What I do is I spend the entire week coming up with a new dance, be it the hip-hop or country western, and I perform it for Erin. Every Wednesday I know that Erin is so excited all day about the 45 minute long dance I have for her that it wears her out! She says that she's tired after about 3 minutes. Bless her heart I keep going. The last twenty minutes of my dances are usually the best. I think that the best thing to do would dance earlier in the day for her. So I might be taking my costumes and moves to her work place. She will love it and I love her!!

2. I have felt that something is missing from her life of varied interests. And as of 3 weeks ago I discovered that it was football. So now I make sure that we watch football as much as possible. It's hard now but I know once she starts to come around she will thank me!!!! Until that day we may have to start missing church to watch more. She is going to be soooooooo grateful when she starts to love football. I'm the best husband because I have the for sight to know what she will love. It's awesome that I love football too!

3. When the sheets on the bed get to high up I pull them down for her. It's only fair because during the night I'm the one who is pulling them up. Sorry sweety.

4. I randomly buy her candies and chocolates just so she knows that I'm thinking about her. And then I consistently eat those candies. I don't want her to get a stomach ache and I know that I can deal with that kind of pain better than she can. I promise my dear that I will eat all the candy you ever get for the rest of your life just to save you that achey stomach. And if that's how it's going to be I'm going to give you a list of the candies that I really like. So you can spread the word around Christmas and your birthday.

5. I have a killer body. Really, I think that if I continue my ways I'll have a heart attack that will also bring me diabetes. And since I love my wife too much to have her be without me I've started exercizing. Or Jazzer-cizing. It's all for you baby!!!

6. I've thought about it, and have decided to let my endless maturity rub off on Erin.

7. I love to surprise Erin w/ big expensive purchases. Who says you only need 4 big screen TVs? Who says that I don't look good in mink leggings? Who says I didn't need that bottom lift? Oops, that cat's now out of the bag. Surprise honey! How do I pay for all of this? And this is the best part. I don't my friends Discover Card, Mastercard and American Express do. I LOVE FREE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!! And Erin loves surprises.

8. I'd eat a plate full of ants for her. ...Just ask my baby, and I'll do it.

9. Some people dedicate art or books to people. I'm dedicating my 1st term as President to her. I know that politics are nasty and there are sure to be some terrible scarring that comes from a nasty media and campaign. But my dedication will be like sweet Neosporin on those wounds. Plus I'm sure that politics will be way more civilized then. Can you imagine me being President of the United States of America's Elvis Lives East Provo sub chapter 5c? How sweet it will be.

10. If I am ever in fact the worlds best husband, it will only be because I really do have the worlds best wife and she has made it that easy.

Anniversary

Spencer and I celebrated our one year anniversary on Saturday. We headed up to Salt Lake early and did a session at the temple. I hadn't been back there since we were married, so it was an awesome experience. We hung aroung Temple Square for a while, then we went to dinner at The Roof, a restaurant on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. After, we spent the night at the Little America Hotel, where we stayed on our wedding night. Here are a few pictures from our weekend. Happy Anniversary Spencer, I love you!

The view from our table at The Roof.

A picture of the buffet.

Arrogance is blinding...but so is a poke to the eye.

Dear readers,

As your eyes peruse the letters that make the words that form the sentences that give birth to the paragraphs that engender meaning to the blog. I want you to close your eyes for just a split second (There you go, don't be scared). Close your eyes and imagine...Imagine that we are all gathered around a warm hearth. The fire is laughing and our hearts are glowing. And now it's time to tickle you with a tale. From my home to yours...

It's list time.

Today I might even give you two. Most likely just one though.

The top reasons that the Y is better than the U.

Having experienced that two I think that I am uniquely qualified. I'm also uniquely good looking.

1. Red is the color of the devil. Blue is the color of the heaven. For those of you who don't believe this just look at the sky. Dangerously following that logic to places where I shouldn't go I also discovered that clouds are the evil that blocks our view of the good and leads us unto temptation. They don't let us see heavenly blue. Next time I'm tempted I will say, "This decision looks overcast" or "Clouds suck."

2. We've all heard the joke, "what do BYU and U of U students have in common? They both applied to BYU!" This insinuates that U students aren't as smart as their southern counterparts. I never really believed this until I was walking to class and I saw a sign on a door. That sign read, "This is a door." It sure was, and I hoped that it cleared up some things for some struggling students.

3. The U has never heard of a Janitor. Thier bathroom cleanliness rivals that of your local Chevron. I should know, I threw up in one of them, and couldn't even tell where the spew had landed. And if the adage is true that "cleanliness is next to godliness," well the U is close to getting an upclose view of outerdarkness. It's no wonder the church sold that place.

4. Utes will brag that all the Prophets have gone there. I will never dispute this. In fact it makes perfect sense. The whole (BYU) have no need of a physician(Mark 2:17). I have the utmost respect for those modern day Samuel the Lamanites that braved the U preaching repentence unto them. In fact, after having viewed and mingled with some of the U students I expect this pattern to continue.

5. I have it on good authority that the U is secretly developing a race of skunk/ape men. They are hairy, stinky and walk w/ a slowness that is scary. Wait that's just the doped up, unshaven, unshowered student that they admit on a regular basis. I can't believe that I swallowed that rumor! Just made sense seeing these students at the time.

Average Ute student just hangin' with his professor.

6. Given the chance any Ute will gladly sacrifice your baby to their god. Their god of course being Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters 2.

Just look, here we go again. Their "god" about to eat another baby!

7. They hired Al Bundy's younger, angrier brother to be their basketball coach...And not Al Bundy himself! Guess which one has scored 5 touchdowns in one game? Also guess what they both have in common? Neither one has beat the Cougars!

8. They hate puppies.

That is it for now. A little shocking I know. But that's just the way it is.

Who is the worst blogger??

I love to read my family and friends blogs, I laugh, I cry, I spend more time than I should seeing what everybody else is up to but I am SO BAD at updating my own blog. So in answer to the previous question, Who is the worst blogger? Me.

I had my 23rd birthday on September 29th, it was so fun to go out and catch up with all our friends and family. My favorite present was a painting that Spencer had done for me. It is a picture of the two of us. It is beautiful (Thank you Jethro). He did several other things for me that were so thoughtful! I am so lucky to have a husband like him, I love you Spencer!

I have been watching a lot more TV lately with Spencer being at school so much and have fallen in love with a show called "If Walls Could Talk". This show is all about old houses that people have moved in to and fixed up. BUT, the best thing about this show is that all the featured homes have a history. The things that happened in these houses are incredible to learn about. I get so jealous when things from centuries ago are found. One episode in particular featured a house back east, inside the walls of this house they found several items from the Civial War that had been hid. There were also several important documents, some of the things included: the original deed to the house, letters between father and son (who were both soldiers in the war) and wedding bands from the original owners.

I love learning about people that lived in the past, what they did, where they lived, what they were like. One day I will have my dream of restoring an old house and finding some great artifacts inside! In the meantime, I recommend this show to anyone with time to kill, its on HGTV.

Before and..... after...

Quick Update...

OR.....

Spencer started school again a few weeks ago... and for those of you who don't know, he turned down a full ride scholarship (tuition, books, computer, living stipend included) to law school, because, after a long time of stewing it over, he realized that is not what he really wants to do for the rest of his life. SO, Spencer is currently attending the University of Utah, in the Masters/PhD program in History. He wants to teach at a University. Things have been a little crazy trying to get everything organized and can I just vent one more time about how expensive books are!? They are ridiculous. One of his classes has 13 books, ONE!!! He has been working hard and is off to a good start - what a good little student he is :) In other news....

I became an aunt again for the tenth time two Sunday's ago, her name is Bella Jessica Fillmore .

My favorite friend Sharon FINALLY came home from her mission and now I have someone to play with while Spence is at school, College football season is starting again so I am preparing to have my living room full of guys watching the away games.





The eighth annual Honey Baked Ham Classic was a success!

I made the Ham this year, long story short...I was wrong on how long I should cook it by about 4 hours... so we ended up buying a pre cooked ham.

We went to my families little Cabin on Brian Head, for Labor Day weekend... Me and my mom!

Spence and Mitch

....BUT the most important news of all is that my birthday is coming...September 29th.. I am going to be the big 23, and I like chocolate. :)

The funniest thing I have ever seen!

I have watched this movie clip probably 15 times and I still love it! You MUST watch it, you will love it!!
Note: This is a MAN!

3 reasons Spencer is so great!

As those of you who read this know, Spencer loves to make lists on our blog. So I thought I would make a list.. A list of some of the reasons I love Spencer. For those of you who have the privilege of knowing Spencer, you know that I could go on and on about how great he is, so here are 3 reasons from the many, on why Spencer is so great!

Spencer is absolutely hilarious. I have never met anyone in my life that has made me laugh so much. I am not talking about little jokes here and there with the occasional giggle, I am talking about full-blown, rolling on the floor, pee your pants, tears in your eyes laughing so hard you can't breath. He is so clever and witty and can make conversation with absolutely anyone. I don't know how he does it.

Spencer is loved by all elderly people. No joke, we went to Barnes and Noble the other day to buy a book. Spencer and I were in an aisle, looking at a particular author that he likes... This old man came up to him and put his arm around Spencer and starting talking to him about books. The next 10 -15 minutes consisted of Spencer and this old man walking around Barnes and Noble, showing each other the books they like and giving each other recommendations. Needless to say, Spencer didn't buy the book he went in to buy, he bought a book that the old man had recommended. Why do old people love him so much?

Spencer is quite a home-maker. He is a really good cook, always experimenting and making something delicious in the kitchen. He also, wont let me do his laundry. He says that he has done it on his own for the past 29 years (maybe some help from mom in there somewhere), so he can keep doing it. This turns out to be nice for me cause I don't have to do so much laundry. It also gives me a good laugh when he forgets to do his laundry and runs out of clean unders..

More to come when I have more time....

Yellowstone Adventure: An Insiders Expose

Erin did an absolutely fantastic job summing up the trip. But she left a couple parts out. I will with complete honesty. Not fearing any retrobution, because I'm so snug and smug in my rightness, press forward.


The first amazing part was that we were able to put a trailors worth of goods, which in turn would provide a service, into the trunk of the Hyundai!!!! Half of the way through that process I was thinking we should be filming this. This would make a great comercial for them. I told Randy to take his shirt off to make the comercial sexier. He wouldn't and I soured on the idea. But trust me it was a feat!!! And we haven't even left the parking lot yet.


We got to Randy's house in Rigby where we all slept and I subsequently left my belt. I now believe that Randy's dad has added it to his collection. It is no where to be found. I might send Gephardt up there to investigate. Then we got back late and had a delicious meal. This is the night the Erin woke me because the serial killer/deer was trying to get into the trailor. I did tell Erin the door was locked when it wasn't cause I didn't want her to worry. I knew it was unlocked. Randy put it best though. "If a man can't figure out how to open a trailor door than we have nothing to fear from that man."


The next day was filled with everyone getting a little tired, except Spencer. I was becoming the annoying guy that wanted to stop everywhere and see everything. Erin has now been forewarned about what are family vacations will be like. I just love it up there. The highlite was the bear. But the undisclosed hight of seeing the bear was that Erin was looking at the bear through some binoculars all the while standing on a half-eaten deer leg. That was a precious moment. To top the night off Erin got pulled over by a cop while driving home cause he thought she was drunk. She was passing over the white line a little too much. Anyway the Police officer was a great guy and didn't give a ticket, even when he found out that Erin didn't have her liscence with her. Good times. For other good times when people thought Erin was drunk refer yourself to the cruise blog.


The next day we looked at more steaming hot pots of color and goodness. There we heard, for the first time I might add, the phrase "smelled like turd fart" uttered by a guy in his 20s. We also heard the following example in parenting. "Don't put your hand in the hot pot, you'll burn your fingers!" "No I won't, I did that yesterday." And the parent keeps on allowing it.


And then we had to come home. And I cried.


I also found out that Erin is afraid of lake docks late at night.


I love her.

Yellowstone

This past weekend Spencer and I, along with our friends Randy and Emily, went to Yellowstone. It all worked out great since Randy and Emily have a place in Island Park, which is about 30 min outside of Yellowstone. Thursday, on our way up we went to this place for lunch called "Big Judd's" They have HUGE hamburgers, I think the biggest one was 5 lbs. This is the weight after it is cooked... Spencer and I shared a 1 lb burger and we couldn't finish it all... imagine a normal size dinner plate, the burger was that big. On the wall were all the records, it said that someone had eaten the 1 lb burger, a large fry and a large drink in 2 min 25 seconds. My mind can't even imagine that! SICK!

We got to Island Park that afternoon, got everything settled and then went to float the river. I think I went into shock when I first got in because it was so cold! I seriously couldn't breath for like 30 seconds. It took about 3 hours to float the river, but we brought drinks and snacks so it was really fun. It got shalow in some parts, so we had to get up and walk. Spencer was so funny because his tube wasn't blown up all the way and when he first got in he went on his stomach and sank a little, oh it was a great site! After we floated the river, we went back to Island Park and I took a hot shower to rid myself of the hypothermia. That night I was so scared because I heard someone outside the front door, I thought they were trying to get in, so I woke Spencer up and he said the door was locked, so I shouldn't worry about it. Well, it turns out the door was NOT locked, but it was only a deer. We had put some watermelon rines on the porch and the deer ate them, plastic bag and all. Better a deer on our porch than a serial killer like I'd imagined.

Friday we decided we would do the lower loop in Yellowstone. This is the loop with Old Faithful. We saw a lot of wild life during the day, but I was so dissapointed because we didn't see any bears. There was a bear sighting there the week before, so my hopes were up. BUT just as we were leaving the park that night we noticed a ton of cars pulled over. I almost kept driving thinking it was a deer or something, but we asked a guy what it was and he said... "It's a Grizzly Bear!" I was so excited, we weren't even in a parking spot, we just left the car (unlocked with all the windows down) and ran to see. Sure enough it was a big brown Grizzly Bear on the other side of the river. There was a very kind man who let us use his binoculars to get a close up look. It was amazing to see a Grizzly Bear in the wild!

The next day we did the upper loop. We saw some wolves, buffalo, moose, elk, deer, lots of stuff. We had a nice picnic, met some nice people and a nice little honeymooner couple. I loved Mammoth Hot Springs, it is absolutely beautiful. I had another great discovery that afternoon, I was just looking out the window, and there was a black bear, on the side of the road sitting in the grass, so we stopped for pictures. The park rangers showed up a few mintues later (someone must have called them) and one of them pulled out a shot gun! I was hoping it just had tranquilizers or something, in case the bear was to run after someone, but no, it was just a regular shotgun. (They said that if the bear were to go after someone, tranquilizers wouldn't work in time, so they needed the shotgun just in case.) Still I was a little shocked that they don't have a better method. Anyway, my dreams came true, I saw two bears in two days!

More pictures will be coming soon!

New Job...

I would like to announce that I have accepted a job at Preferred Family Clinic in Provo. I am very excited about his job because not only is it full-time - but I get to put my degree to use! I also get to sit in on different therapy sessions and do intake work with clients. I am so excited! Spencer says he is buying a gun - just in case one of the "crazy's" follow me home... oh dear...!

Things I love about my husband Spencer...

As those of you who read this know, Spencer loves to make lists on our blog. So I thought I would make a list.. A list of some of the reasons I love Spencer. For those of you who have the privilege of knowing Spencer, you know that I could go on and on about how great he is, so here are 3 reasons from the many, on why Spencer is so great!

Spencer is absolutely hilarious. I have never met anyone in my life that has made me laugh so much. I am not talking about little jokes here and there with the occasional giggle, I am talking about full-blown, rolling on the floor, pee your pants, tears in your eyes laughing so hard you can't breath. He is so clever and witty and can make conversation with absolutely anyone. I don't know how he does it.

Spencer is loved by all elderly people. No joke, we went to Barnes and Noble the other day to buy a book. Spencer and I were in an aisle, looking at a particular author that he likes... This old man came up to him and put his arm around Spencer and starting talking to him about books. The next 10 -15 minutes consisted of Spencer and this old man walking around Barnes and Noble, showing each other the books they like and giving each other recommendations. Needless to say, Spencer didn't buy the book he went in to buy, he bought a book that the old man had recommended. Why do old people love him so much?

Spencer is quite a home-maker. He is a really good cook, always experimenting and making something delicious in the kitchen. He also, wont let me do his laundry. He says that he has done it on his own for the past 29 years (maybe some help from mom in there somewhere), so he can keep doing it. This turns out to be nice for me cause I don't have to do so much laundry. It also gives me a good laugh when he forgets to do his laundry and runs out of clean unders..

More to come when I have more time....

The books I love right now....

I love to read. I have read all the books on my self several times and I am sure I will read them all again. It doesn't matter that I already know what is going to happen. I still love the thrill of each story. There is one book in particular that is quite possibly my favorite book. It is called.. "The secret life of bees". It's about a white girl who grows up in the south during slavery times. I love all the adventures she goes on and all the thoughts she has regarding what is going on in the world around her. I think everyone should read this book. Although I must put a disclaimer, there are some swears and some interesting parts - not for kids. BUT I love this book and it is definitely a good read!

Next on the book list is Anita Stansfield. If you read anything by Anita Stansfield, you wont be dissapointed. She is an LDS author who writes mostly about marriages and families. My favorite of hers is a series that takes place in the 1800's about a family that lives on a big estate in Australlia. They are also excellent reads. The first one is "The Gable Faces East" and the second one is "Gables Against The Sky." These are both completely G Rated reads.

Next.. another favorite author is Mary Higgins Clark. These are mysteries and the kind that you don't want to read when you are home alone at night. They keep you on the edge of your seat and just possibly could give you nightmares.

Yes.. you all knew it was coming, I love the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I don't need to say much cause I think everyone in the world has read them... except Spencer who refuses. :)
I am excited for the movie to come out later this year..

Last but not least is a book called "Man's search for meaning". Is is told by a man who was put in concentration camps during WWII. This is book will make you cry, but it is an excellent insight into the life of a prisoner.

Hawaii here we come!

As some of you know, Spencer proposed to me in Hawaii on a beautiful beach, right at sunset! We thought that we would never be able to go back to where we got engaged since it is on a military beach (Spencer's brother lives on the base in Hawaii - and we thought by the time we got to go back, he would be stationed somewhere else) but it turns out...we are going!!

We recently got our tickets for 10 days in Hawaii over Thanksgiving! The entire Fillmore family is going! I can't hardly go on with everyday life because I am so excited! I love HAWAII!!