Gramps

My Grandpa Smith passed away on Tuesday August 27th. Kind of neat and sweet him and my grandma were only apart for 28 days. I know he needed to be with her and it just really made his personality show because he was so stubborn. He waited until he knew she was OK. I miss him so much though. It's so hard for everyone still here without them. I feel like I'm having an especially hard time just because they both passed away while we are here in North Dakota. I'm so grateful for all the times I was able to spend with my grandparents. Just recently when we were down for my grandma's funeral I was playing solitaire at my grandpa's house. He had been kind of out of it that day but pretty soon after I got the cards out he jumped right in and started helping me play. Then he asked me if I wanted to share a banana with him. That moment meant so much to me, especially now. I have so many memories of my grandpa. He was hilarious and stubborn as hell. I'm pretty positive I get my stubbornness from him. I remember when I was home schooled in 6th grade my mom would have me go to their house sometimes in the morning and do some school work.  My grandpa would always watch "The Price is Right" and we would eat yogurt. If I was ever doing math homework he didn't like me to count with my fingers he wanted me to count in my head. So funny. Both him and my grandma were avid Jazz fans to the point where they would even just listen to the games on the radio if they weren't on TV. Gramps always called to let us know what time and what channel the game would be on so we could watch it. I remember playing Kings in the corner with my grandpa and my grandma would sneak over my shoulder and give me hints and tips. He was passionate about gas mileage and the details on our car. I'll try to do better on keeping track of my gas mileage for you grandpa. One of the many things I got from my grandpa's many stories was to always stand up for yourself.  I think that is so important. He taught me that it isn't ok for others to treat you unfairly. We wont go into the ways he made it known to people who did not treat him fair because thats besides the point. Grandpa was very protective of his grandkids. You didn't mess with us or else he would hunt you down. I'm not kidding...He loved his 3 great granddaughters very much. They new him as grandpa great. 

I miss my grandma and grandpa so very much. I'm so glad they are together and I know I am so lucky to have had them in my life for as long as I did. 

Grandma Smith

My grandma (my mom's mom) passed away on Tuesday July 30th. She passed away in the arms of my dad. Instead of dwelling on the sadness of it all and how much I miss her and how rough it is somedays I just wanted to write down some of my memories of my grandma.My brothers and my sister and I were her only grandkids and so we were very close with her. 

She was an amazing person! She was so much fun! I remember having sleepovers at my grandparents house and watching the Utah Jazz games. My grandma would get all sorts of treats ready for us and put them in bowls. She would hold her hand up like she was covering the basketball hoop when the opposing team tried to make a shot in hopes the ball would "bounce" off her hands. When the score got too close she would go into the other bedroom but then turn the TV in on there because she couldn't stand to watch it. 

She made amazing food. One of my favorites was her maraschino Cherry Salad without the Cherries. It's made with whip cream, jello, and velveeta cheese. Kind of weird sounding I know but its delicious!

Whenever anyone had sickness or an injury like a headache or something she would rub your head in one motion. Like across your forehead pick up her hand and then across your forehead. When it felt better,which it always did, she would then wash her hands to get the pain out of her hands. I loved it. I always knew grandma could make me feel better.  

She loved to fish and be outside. She loved cacti and roadrunners. She loved to garden and always took really great care of her lawn. 

Unfortunately, she suffered from Alzheimers so I am happy that she is out of pain and confusion. Miss you Grams. 

My grandma and I fishing

Grandma and I

Me,my mom, and my grandma

We made it to Bismarck,ND

There may not be a ton of pictures with this post and I apologize. I took some awesome shots on the drive up and unfortunately my phone crashed and I lost them all so sad. Well things sometimes just don't go as planned. We figured it was going to be around a 15-18 hour drive to Bismarck and we wanted to leave really early but we ended up not leaving until about 10am. The drive was gorgeous Ben,Duke, and I drove in the truck and pulled the trailer. My dad drove behind us in the Mazda (yes my dads amazing to have done this drive with us and help move us up here on such short notice.) We had never pulled a trailer before with our truck so we were curious to see what kind of gas mileage we got. Let me tell you it wasn't good. About three hours in we had to fill up the tank. So having to stop that often to fill up kind of put us back a little on time. The good thing was the Mazda was getting great gas mileage and we were only having to fill it up about every other time we filled up the truck. Around 10pm we were on the Eastern side of Montana and we could tell everyone needed a rest so we found a little hotel and crashed. We had to sneak Duke in. I'm so grateful he is such a good dog or else we could have really had some problems. We just slept until we felt rested in the morning and then headed out on the road again. Mind you this whole time we technically don't have a place to live I have 2 places that have said its a possibility but we have nothing set in stone yet. We get to Bismarck and it is just pouring rain. We get to the duplex that we are hoping to rent and I can't get a hold of the landlord. So we go to Walmart and get my dad a hoodie because we hadn't planned on this weather and we get a blow up mattress because we don't have anything to sleep on. Still don't hear back from the landlord so we stop at TacoJohns a little mexican fast food place. Finally, we hear from the landlord go back to the duplex we take a look around sign the lease it stops raining for about an hour we get everything pretty much unpacked and thats it!

The next morning we dropped my dad off at the airport which is literally down the street. We basically live on airport road. There is also an active train track right by our house. That has taken some getting used to. I swear the conductor falls asleep on the horn some nights. Having people above us again has also taken some getting used to. They have a dog and we call him Crazy Old Bruce. He's crazy for real. It rained almost non stop for about the first month we were here and now its just hot and humid. A few things I've learned about North Dakota: Almost everyone wears Underarmor or TheNorthFace clothing. The majority of people are Catholic or Lutheran. They are huge on motorcycles especially Harley Davidsons. They have 2 Walmarts a north and south one. When you tell them you moved up here for work they assume you are working in the oil fields. They don't have enough people for the jobs they have available and they don't have enough housing for the people they need. There is only 3 types of music available on the radio. I like to call them the 3 C's: Country,Christian, and Classic Rock.

I was going to post more pictures of the inside of the house but I will just have to do that later because its taken me over 2 months to get this post up! Also...look up Minnesota accents on youtube. That's kind of how they talk here and some days I really pick up on the accent. Oops!

Trip to Utah and 4 year Anniversary

We headed down to Utah the last weekend of June first week of July. Before we even left Bismarck Duke wigged out and jumped in his water bowl when we went over a bump it scared him so he jumped over to the front seat. We had to pull over and get him situated. He kills me.

 By the way its about a 15 or so hour drive to Salt Lake. We did it in one shot. We got there at about 4am...luckily my family had the bed and room all ready for us which was so nice!
The next day or same day that we got there however you want to look at it was Sunday. We actually went to breakfast with my sis Morgan and her husband Spencer. It was delicious! Then we had Sunday dinner at my parents house. Monday we helped my parents out a little because my grandparents had to have new tile installed in their home. My mom had to work and my dad had to clear out the house for the installers. So I made my grandparents waffles and we visited them. It was so nice to see them. Duke loves grandma he would not leave her alone.
Before we left for Park City Ben got his hair cut and I got some pink streaks put in just for fun!

That afternoon Ben and I left for our stay in Park City to celebrate our anniversary. After checking into the hotel we headed down to main street for dinner. We ended up going to a Sushi place. Ben loves sushi however, I'm pretty picky.

Our hotel was AMAZING! We had a kitchen and a beautiful view from our balcony.

We went shopping at the outlets in Park CIty and got some amazing deals! We got some clothes, sunglasses, I got a great deal on a really nice rain coat. We also got a really good deal on a wedding band for me.

After we got home from Park City we hung out with my family. One day we even talked Ben into going and getting a pedicure with us. He actually enjoyed it for the most part. 

On Friday we spent most of the day cooking and baking. We were having a family get together at my grandma Parry's that evening. My Uncle Ladd from Arizona had came up and some of my cousins from Boston were also in town. Talk about good timing. I rode up with my dad on his motorcycle. Loved it! It was perfect weather. 

 Believe it or not it started raining while we were sitting out on the porch eating. 

After the party Morgan,Spencer,Ben and I went to my cousins theatre to watch their improv show. Morgan took this picture. It kind of turned out funny those are her arms holding her phone to take the pic.

We had a blast and it was so nice to see everyone. Hopefully we can go back again soon.

There are still nice people in this world...even at Walmart.

On Saturday I was doing a shopping trip at Walmart. I started out getting a lawn chair that I've been wanting and Duke's food. Just those two items alone took one cart so I had to leave that cart at customer service and use another one for the rest of the shopping. Based on the amount of groceries I had ot probably looked like I had 5 kids at home a dog and a husband! There was a lady probably in her 50's with her husband standing behind me in the checkout line. They had ONE item. I told them or they could go ahead of me. She offered to watch my cart while I went and grabbed the other cart. When I came back I started making small talk about how I was glad to be getting this out of the weekend and its one more thing to cross off my "to do" list. She said not to worry and take it one thing at a time and if you don't finish your list that's OK. She also told me to learn to say "No" to people and I don't need yo give them a reason I'm an adult. It was so crazy because I really needed to hear those things and she had no idea of my situation. I thought it was really sweet of her. Also, to meet such a nice person at Walmart on a Saturday is just amazing. One of those moments that restores your faith in humanity.

Weight Loss Week 8

Overall it was a pretty decent week. I was kind of upset that I missed my workout Monday. Mr. Duke decided to have an accident in the house that I was cleaning up and showed up to late to go to my class ... so instead of going home or even staying at the gym and doing some sort of work out I just went home...Lame! I don't know about anyone else but I need my Monday workout to get me motivated for the week. I did go to my butt kicking step class on Tuesday, they had a bodypump launch on Wednesday (where we learned the new routine) and then I tried a bodyattack class on Thursday...Holy Crap. If you want to get a lil' taste of what the class is like watch this youtube video clip.  On Friday I felt a cold coming on and didn't want to push it so I took the day off (I didn't end up getting sick so...) Saturday I spent the day cooking and cleaning and shopping. Saturday and Sunday we celebrated Ben's b-day which I will be blogging about later (but who knows when you will see it cause I'm way behind). Anyways, I practiced portion control and drank a ton a ton of water. I have not had a drop of soda pop now for over two weeks! YAY! I am really seeing a change in my body and so are others. I still have quite a bit to go to get to a healthy weight but I'm feeling good and I can see change happening and for now that keeps me motivated.

DAYS I WORKED OUT THIS WEEK: 3

POUNDS LOST THIS WEEK: 1LB. (BUT THATS OK! I'LL TAKE IT!)

We did it!!!

I just found this post in my drafts no idea why it didn't get published. Oh well! Here it is! 


We got a dog! We've been talking about it for awhile. It's kinda a big deal because I have really bad allergies to dogs and cats however, my brother has a boxer and I haven't had any problems with him. On Monday (Labor Day) we looked on KSL we found a few dogs that we wanted and then decided on an American Bulldog. He was free, we had to drive up to Ogden to get him, the ad said that he had been hit by a car about a month ago and was still recovering from the accident. We drove up to Ogden to pick him and the owner was kinda goofy. He made us sign a contract saying we wouldn't breed the dog and that we would get him fixed withing 30 days. OK no problem. Then he proceeds to tell us he didn't take the dog in when he got hit he just took care of the wounds himself. So we drive the hour drive home with our puppy. We get  him home and he's acting really weird and he has these really bad sores all over his neck. He wouldn't or play or bark he just laid there. It was really sad. Well from the way he was acting we are thinking he might have been abused. The sores don't look like they were from a car accident either. We are hoping to get him checked out by a vet soon. He is a really sweet dog though. We were told he had been an outside dog but we've pretty much turned him into and inside dog and he's pretty much potty trained. Overall it's been a really great experience. I also have not had any allergy problems (other than the usual, I swear I'm allergic to everything!). He will be 8 months the end of this month. We hope he starts coming out of his shell soon though I would really like a dog to go on walks with and being able to take him to the park and on hikes.

Duke and his puppy eyes

Duke watching the movie LOL