Valentine's in St George

.......nOt as romantic as you might think!

.

We went to St George this last holiday weekend for the President's Cup Tournament with Shawn's U13 team. It really was a lot of fun. They won 2 out of 3 games...but didn't advance. It was unfortunate for the team, but I was excited. For me it meant we could go home on Sunday and then have all of Monday to relax and do our Valentine's day. It's hard being gone 2 weekends in a row... it's nice to get away but I hadn't had anytime to catch up on laundry or cleaning and all of that fun stuff.

Shawn with Mindy's son Seth.....don't they look alike?

Shawn's favorite cousin Mindy lives in St George with her kids and we were able to visit with them a lot. She is so much fun and so gorgeous. I can see why she is Shawn's favorite. She is awesome. She made me lots of smoothies on her sweet blender. I want one now! I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her or Kade or Ambrie.

The majority of our time was spent with the team. We were all shocked when we found out that the boys were playing on a full size turf fields...they have never played on a field this size! They were completely at a disadvantage because the kids didn't bring their turf shoes and they were playing against local teams who are used to playing on such a big field. The first game they had a pretty bad loss. The 2nd game they beat the team who actually beat the team they lost to. The 3rd game they won in a shoot out.

These are all of the boys younger siblings watching the shoot out. How cute is that???

It is such a gorgeous time of year down there. I loved the red rock frosted with snow. It was a lot warmer than I thought it would be. I did not bring appropriate clothes! I made do with my boots and jackets. The last night we went to dinner at a mexican restaurant with all of the parents. It was so much fun. Inter has the best parents!

Shawn with his team.

bottom row: Kolby, Jordan, Bailey, Sean & Raquel

top row: Mason, Max, Sam, Donovan, Jordan, Chris, Christian & Cameron

Valentine's Present

So excited.....

Now I realize that you are supposed to be poor and not have very much when you are newly weds; however our old couch was ridiculous. It did it's job I suppose...but not to its full potential. I will have to take a picture of the old beast and put it up so you can compare for yourself.

We decided that it was time for a new couch. Actually, Shawn decided to give in after asking for the 872nd time. I'm embarrassed to say that after an adult-like tantrum last spring at Ashley Furniture Warehouse, Shawn had very good reasons for not giving into a couch for this long. I did some research online and decided I was going to head out to look after work. Shawn had to coach so I took Stacey with me so that the the salesmen wouldn't screw me over (apparently I look much younger than my actual age, such a shocker). I hated all of the ones that I had thought I liked from the internet. And then we stumbled upon this couch.

Of course it was one of the last ones the salesman showed me because it was on clearance. It was the floor model & we fell in love with it. Shawn got home from coaching and I took him immediately to show it to him. At first he said he hated it, but then he sat on it and loved it. Most importantly it's a 2600$ couch and we got it for much much less!!! It's so comfortable and it will go with anything. See the opening between the two couches??? Well there is supposed to be another piece there. It's a big sectional. It wouldn't fit in our apartment so it's currently residing in our spare bedroom...with the old couch.

I LOVE IT except I'm a little nervous because we are needing to buy Shawn a new car because his acura recently broke down.....great timing!

Thank you Brandyn & Rick for helping my hubby haul it home!!! It was fun having Brandyn & Mickie over with the kids and EVERYONE could actually sit somewhere on the couch.

Quick Trip

TO VEGAS!

We had been this planning this weekend trip for a while to be able to go to one of Shawn's soccer tournaments. We got off to a crappy start...Shawn's coach didn't register his team in time to make it into the tournament AND we had a bad flu cold bug thing last week. This was kinda a big deal for me. I never throw up. I hate throwing up. I'm a baby. So I got sick and it happened. It hasn't happened in seriously like 10 years, or more. But I made it, I'm alive. Anyways, we were thinking of not going because of these 2 reasons. We felt like we pretty much had to go because we didn't want to let Ashley & Kevin down. We promised Ashley that we would taker her home and Kevin wanted to go to see Scott & Jenn because they weren't able to come to his homecoming.

We headed out of town thursday night. We had a fun trip down (other than my ear getting permanently plugged for 24 hrs). I love Ash & I love Kev. Ashley and I don't have any sisters so I feel like we have always been close (even tho she spent the whole weekend with her bf).

We stayed with John & Allison. Friday we did lots of shopping and ate at some little Johnny's cafe or something like that, in the fashion show mall. We didn't do the strip this trip. Over it. Kevin did talk an awful lot about Bryce. They lived in Vegas for one summer and did lots of fun stuff together. He misses him lots. He says he doesn't want to waste his time making really good friends because no one will compare to Bryce. We love you Bryce!!! He will be home in September.

Friday night we had a big family dinner. John cooked. Yummy. Scott & Jenn came over with their CUTE baby Afton. First time that Kevin has seen her. She is not a big fan of anyone that's not her mom & dad but she did warm up to Kev for a bit. I bought her that cute little pink tutu.

Saturday Scott & Jenn took us to this little broadway pizza place. It was really good. Way too much food. After that we went to the outlets. Shawn ended up playing 3 games with "O.M" soccer club. So he played while I shopped. Saturday night we hung out, played some wii, & watched a couple of movies. Kevin & Mitch serenaded us with their singing/guitar skills. I wish I had a picture of everyone. sorry guys.

Kevin & Tanner in their matching shirts...they didn't buy them matching on purpose. Tanner kept us entertained all weekend. He is hilarious. "Guys you need to help me, I can't hold my fat back and lotion my skin at the same time". You had to be there.....
We headed home after Shawn got in 1 more game Sunday morning. I'm glad we went. It was a lot of fun spending time with my family down there.

We finally have callings!

We have been in this ward for about 9 months, and we just barely got callings. A couple of months after we moved in the bishopric changed, so we figured

they were just busy with other things. When we met the new bishopric we thought we would be getting a calling any day. . . didn't happen.

I have had serious issues with Relief

Society. Recently I had come to a conclusion that the reason we hadn't received callings was because I needed to gain an appreciation for Relief Society.
I have been trying my best to go with an open heart

and doing my best to meet other girls. A couple of weeks ago we were asked to sub in sunbeams. . .

Shawn said that it was our trial run to see if we were primary material. There were so many dang sunbeams. . . freaking 11!

This last Sunday we were at my parents house and my mom said that she was

going to call our bishop and ask him why we didn't

have callings yet. Gotta love my mom.

Ironically, last night the bishopric stopped by our apartment and asked

if I would be a sunbeam teacher and if Shawn would

be willing to help out in primary where needed. He was also asked

to be a Webelos leader (but they are rethinking that calling because of his

soccer coaching during the week).

I asked the bishopric if our new callings

had anything to do with a possible phone call from my mom.

They weren't aware of one. haha

So pretty much my Sunday mornings will be consumed with hand sanitizer, tissues, clorox wipes & lysol. I promise I will do my best not to have a complete stress attack when there are puzzles covering the entire floor, boogers everywhere & kids screaming. Should be GREAT birth control

wE pReTtY mUCh RoCK ! ! ! ! !

We beat Super Mario Brother's on the Wii!!!

After lots of frustration, swearing, finger cramps, blisters, dreams of mario, etc. Yes I know we are pathetic. If you have every played this game you will understand. . . it's awesome. It's just like the old school nintendo super mario brother's. So much fun.

Before you stop reading let me explain...

After finishing Shawn's last semester of his under grad he has found himself with a lot of free time. Here are some of the things he has said to me over the last couple of weeks:

Me: So I was looking at our wedding photographer's website and they have the cutest pictures of little babies. So I want one, a baby, NOW.

Shawn: NO you don't Ang. Being a stay at home mom is not all it's cracked up to be. It's hard work. I mean I did all the grocery shopping yesterday, did all the laundry today, took maggie on a walk, I'm making your brother's dinner tomorrow . . . and it's hard. You're not going to like it as much as you think. . .
hahaha

That was my favorite. . . but here are some good quotes by my awesome husband.

• "I don't know what I want to be"
• "I hate being a grown up"
• "I suck at life"
• "maybe I should go into ______" (fill in the blank, guarantee he said it)
• "Ang I have been really busy all day, I beat 3 worlds on super mario brothers"

There were lots of other things he said, but I have a really bad memory. Here are MY highlights of Shawn's 2 weeks of being a stay at home dad (to our dog maggie).

• cooking
• laundry
• grocery shopping (my cute visiting teacher found shawn lost at walmart and helped him with a couple of items he could not find)
• Lots of cleaning
• soccer playing
• coaching
• reading
  
• playing with Maggie
• Super Mario Brother's
• job interviews
• researching adopting (for the future, Haitian babies are my recent obsession. I can not stop thinking about all of these poor kids who are now parentless)
  
• Last but not least he FOUND A JOB

Yay!!! Shawn has been looking for something part time, because we can not give up his coaching. He gets paid to do something he loves & it really isn't work to him. So why quit? Shawn is going to be working for the U doing advertising for the school newspaper. He is pretty excited about it.

And so you see I had to get super mario brother's so shawn wouldn't be bored out of his mind. . . and yes I had to play it with him when I got home from work at night, on the weekends & first thing in the morning. Pretty much it's made our marriage stronger. . . or something. . . Okay? Don't judge us!

Homecoming Talk

Kevin's homecoming talk was this last sunday. He did such a great job. I was so impressed, along with a lot of other people. He talked about the Book of Mormon, how it converts & the testimony he gained from it while on his mission. He is all grown up!

After the talk we headed to my parents for donuts & breakfast goodies.

Kevin. Me. Spencer.

Kev. Me.

Todd. Ashley.

My mom & her cute friend Jalair

my mom's cousin Julia. Dad. uncle Todd.

cousin Brad. Gma Westra. Brendon. Dallin.

Katherine. Taylor. Carly. Gpa Westra.

friends. alex. nick. karly. kinsey.

Kevin. Kale. Nick. Chase.

New Year's Homecoming Party

My brother Kevin got home from his mission a couple of days ago. . . FINALLY! I have been counting down for a long long time. He got home on New Year's eve. Shawn and I headed up to the airport with my parents & youngest brother, Spencer. It is so crazy to finally have him home. After the airport we headed back to my parents and ordered in chinese. Kev's request.

We had fun catching up with him before heading up to my uncle Todd's company show-house in Heber. We had a big New Year's Eve party. Lots of family and friends. It was a blast. There was a TON of food and lots of fun things going on. Pool table, ping pong, bounce house, movies etc. Lots of our family came into town for the party. We all gathered into the theater room to hear about Kevin tell about some of his mission experiences while we watched a slide show of his pictures on the big screen.

New Year's day we slept at my parents house after the party so we all slept in, including Kevin, and had a fun family brunch. It ended with Spencer shooting me in the eye with a damn nerf gun. I was going down the stairs and came around the wall and a dart hit me right in the eye. MY EYE WAS OPEN!!! It seriously hurt so bad. Don't worry, I didn't like get a black eye or anything cool like that. It was just sore all day. After that we headed to the mall to get Kev some new clothes, then we just headed back to the house to watch movies and relax.

It feels so weird to finally have him home. Especially since Curtis isn't home. I feel like Kevin & Curtis go hand in hand. Like Salt & Pepper. Like peanut butter & jelly. Like ice cream & Angela. I'm sure its more weird for him. He told me that he keeps having little panic attacks because he feels like he should be doing something, but he really has nothing to be doing. haha. I imagine it would be really hard adjusting after devoting your whole complete self for 2 years. At the party I kept saying "where is my husband" and Kevin was freaking out about that. He was like "you have a husband...it's so weird to hear you say that". Anyways we are so happy to have him home and are so so so proud of him!!!