HI.....

Okay... so i havent blogged in sooo long that i forgot that i NEED to put the pictures on first and then type my text... so you can read the bottom of this post to understand the pics!!! But a brief explanation.. i have been doing a LOT of cleaning out and re-organizing!! I have taken three bags full of stuff that is junk and taking up space to the DI and i have organized my whole house.. so here are a few pics-- just in case you need organizing ideas!!

We were lucky enough to have some members of our ward donate their still perfect futon to us. We were so excited because we have been looking for a futon or pull out sofa for a while--- and well "Good things come to those who wait" and i am soooo learning this right now....

Side note: I have wanted this book from Deseret Book for a while, like since it came out practically, but i could never bring myself to spend the money on it... so last week-- dont worry it was on sale for 1.99!! No that is not a typo.. it was only $2!!!! It was practically 90% off!!!

Anyway, Here is our futon, and it is a little big.. so i have been re-arranging to fit it in the bedroom.....

I bought this rack at ikea for $20.. i needed some shelves and well this was cheap and sturdy and mod... Might not always be the cutest... but it will do for now and would go kid a childs bedroom one day.. so it was worth the drive to ikea(because i love that place) and investment.... Oh and my mom got me a cricket for christmas... I have used it for scrapbooking, but i need to get some vinyl, cause i am excited to try that!!! I love it!!! I was so excited to have one!!

Here is a creative way that i decided to hang my purses... I had some old shower curtain round hook things, so i hooked them on the rack in the closet and hung my purses from them.. It makes it so much easier to see and it is not just laying all over my cupboard, or on a shelf to hard to reach... So much easier to find when i know which purse i want to use....

Here is all my "hair" supplies... i have everything i need to do hair in these plastic bins and in the black bag next to them... i also have nails, and sewing kits, and small misc. items in the small three drawer bin on the left.

Lastly, i never had a jewelry holder... i had this thing in one of my cupboards that was kind of like a tie rack that i would hang my necklaces and earrings on... but it was hard to see what was on it, and it was pain to hang the items up... so i saw this wall in our closet that had nothing on it, and i brainstormed for a few days, and came up with this, i bought kitchen cabinet knobs at home depot and took some screw eyes and put them in the bottom of the piece of wood... i painted it too... and voila!! I have this awesome, easily accessable jewelry holder, and I wear my fun earrings WAY more often... and my dresser is free of the jewelry clutter!! I seriously am in love with this little invention!!!

So, now here is my "type" that should have been at the top....

So I have to apologize... i have not been blogging for a while... i havent looked at blogs, nor posted on mine.... I am suppose to update my moms every now and again and i have seriously been slacking.... I decided a couple months ago, that i spend toooo much time on the computer.

I would get up and immediately go to the computer and then before i knew i was still in my pjs and three hours had gone by!! (I know you all do this too... so dont judge!!! j/k)

So, i decided that i could get a lot more done if i didnt get on the computer so much!!! And it has been working!! I have deep cleaned and re-organized my ENTIRE house, i have tried some new recipes, i have been making shopping lists(so i am not so flustered or compulsive when i go to the store), i have sent out all birthday cards on time this year, I have done so much scrapbooking-- it is awesome!!! I feel so productive and more energetic...

So i am sorry have not posted, nor commented... i have been reading up on everyone though!!!

Rhett-sers Birthday fun!!!

So, it was Rhett's Birthday on the 12th! We celebrated it on Sunday, since is birthday landed on a Monday... and the poor guy... had a test at 8- class til 4- and then he had to go downtown to the clinic he visits monthly til 10-such is the life of a med student, so since he was not going to get much of a birthday-- I decided to celebrate it on Sunday!!!

He decided he wanted Cafe Rio for dinner... Which i was not oppose to making!!! So his brother came up and had dinner and strawberry shortcake with us!! Yummy!! Happy Birthday, my love!!

Christmas in B-ville....

WARNING: lots of pictures to come.

So for Christmas this year we were lucky enough to go to Brazil, for Rhetts parents last Christmas in that crazy country!! We had a blast, Rhett has not seen his dad for about 18 months and so he was ecstatic to go. We were able to spend Rhett's entire break(almost 2 weeks) down there.

F.Y.I: For those that don't know Rhetts parents were called to be mission pres. in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, this was about two and a half years ago... so we are very excited they are almost done-- i cant believe it!!

Alright so to start out-- here are some random Brazilian pictures, Rhett though this Bamboo tree was so cool--- which i am not going to lie, he has good taste, it really was a cool "tree" and this photo does it no justice!! Here is one of the MANY interesting flowers down there, these flowers bloom and open right at the yellowish-green part, they kinda remind me of toucan sam??

Okay, well this country is very strange, and this picture is only the beginning, In Brazil at least in Belo, there are no garbage cans on the street, no dumpsters, no metal bins to put junk in as you wander the streets of the city. So people throw their trash everyWHERE!! Not just ice cream cups, or fast food bags, but huge black trash bags filled with items, from peoples homes, they simply find a pile someone else had started and add to it, or just start one of their own--- So EVERY morning you see these people in orange jump suits cleaning the streets with a broom made of palm tree frawns!! Yes, it is seriously CRAZY!! Now, you think, wouldn't it be cheaper for the city to just to buy a few trash cans and dumpsters and place them strategically throughout the downtown area?? NO, that is WAY to easy for Brazil!!(sarcasm, just in case you missed that)

Here is just a small glimpse of what the downtown looks like, we walked everywhere, because driving is seriously crazy and takes forever because of all the one way streets(example: the mission office is four blocks from the mission home, and you have to drive 12 blocks to get there, because of the roads, so it is FASTER to walk). Notice the sign on the street light, no left turn, no u turn, only straight.

One more crazy thing that happened while we were there, well, lots of things happened, but-- this one is pretty funny... While we were there we just happened to encounter a few problems in the mission home. Rhetts parents live in a very nice apartment/condo, but the craftsmanship and labor of a lot of Brazilian buildings is not the same as the states. So while we were there one of the showers blew up, (yes literally BLEW up, while Rhetts sister was in the shower, smoke and everything-- it was a huge ordeal). While we were getting boxes out of there storage room, that had just been sprayed for bugs, we encountered termites(Ewww, i might add). And on our last day, i was in the shower this time and heard a loud clunk. I thought rhett was just screwing around, but then i get out of shower and the sink had completely fallen through the granite counter top!! I should have taken a photo, it was completely detached from the counter and just resting there on a metal pipe that was under the sink!!

Anyway, we went and bought a shower head, which was a task of its own. And then a few hours later realized it was wrong and we had to return it. So we go inside the store, wait like five minutes for the worker to get off the phone-- then he sends us outside of the building, ALL the way to the back of the building(while it is pouring down rain). Yes, all the way to the back, almost to the equivalent here(the USA) of a loading docks location. We have to return it at this location, and they need ALL of your information. Your address, your name, your social security number, and it took another full five minutes for them to input it into the computer. Then they send us back to the front of the store so we can purchase the NEW shower head. Let me remind you we bought and returned this item on the same day. So the lovely man that has helped on both visits, had already grabbed the new and walks us up to the checkout. Where rhetts mom proceeds to pay and complete the transaction, when the lovely man says (in Portuguese) no you can have it for the same price. Which was only like a $10 difference.
So he takes Rhetts mom to another table and goes in the "office" a few times and then comes back with a full 8x10 printed paper of the new price(not exaggerating this took almost ten minutes). Then she has to go back to the checkout AGAIN to purchase the item for a THIRD time!!
Yes, nuts.. and you thought Wal-mart was bad!! They give you a sticker right when you walk in at least.

Okay here is a picture of us with some crazy looking chickens rhetts mom put in our stockings. They make a loud quacking noise and have candy eggs that come out their bums-- (i thought you would want to know that).



Here is us at church, this branch met in a house. The four extras in the picture are missionaries, just in case you were wondering.

Well, Brazil is hot and humid and it rains a lot, and their is not a lot of tourist-y things to do in this city. So we decided to home make gingerbread on Christmas eve. It took a few hours and three stores, to find all the ingredients but we did it!! That is rhetts brother in the pic. and their maid in the back-- she thought this was a crazy process(as you can tell by her face), and it was, it took almost ALL day.

Here is us decorating them.

And the finished project... in front of what Pat calls her Brazilian Christmas tree.

We also ate at this cool restaurant that was way back in the middle of a neighborhood(typical Brazil). I dont know how you would know it was their unless you were a local. It was all outside and the covering was made of hut type material. It was so cool!! It was raining too, so it literally was raining right next to our table. I had to stand in the rain to take the picture even.

The food is always displayed in the most coolest way, it almost like you pay for the display. And they were on these huge heavy medal skillets, kind of like dennys but bigger. Those long brown things are bananas-- not so yummy.

And not exaggerating this is how they cooked the food...

We went on a hike one day, and you can see all of Belo from the top...

Here is a weird anteater type animal we saw on the hike...

And another weird animal, these are called Capybara. They are a large rodent. They are the size of a large dog and they kind of resemble a large hog. They live by some of the lakes.. they are seriously disgusting- and some people eat them.

Oh cute, family pic by the Christmas tree!

Gingerbread...

So.................my mother, last weekend, gave us this wonderful gingerbread house kit!! It was so cute... sadly though my brother's dog got to it before we could and so the roof was broken, and most of the candy canes... i thought maybe i could salvage the roof-- but negative on that one- But i LOVE gingerbread houses... so i was so excited, and i decorated the rest of it anyway!! Pretty cute-- it was so fun, i love this time of year-- so many activities to occupy my time!!!

Looks yummy, Rhett even tried to eat the broken gingerbread roof, I said "I dont think you are suppose to actually EAT that??" He said "Why not?? Oh it tastes like cardboard." Then he picked up a second piece and ate that too!! Are you suppose to eat the gingerbread in the kits?? What if the store put out the leftover ones from last year??? Yuck.... oh and Merry Christmas!!!

Wickenburg!!!

So last weekend, Rhett and I headed up to Wickenburg to see my little brother race his last ATV race for the season... We also got to spend a little time with my parents-- in between the race that is!! It was a very long race track---- so Rhett and I hiked through the mountains, so we could watch my brother from all angles- There were so many cactus' out there and they were so HUGE!!! We stood next to a few so that you can really tell how tall and crazy they are... Rhett is about 5'10" and i am 5'4".. if that helps your imagination a little....

Rhett looks so tiny up there!!! This picture is of Rhett and my Dad just before the race--- They were the "pit crew." The races are crazy they "pit"(ex. change his goggles, fill up his gas, give him water, etc.) my brother in about 30-45 seconds!! It is so crazy to watch, my dad has like five or six people helping him do everything when my brother pulls in... i should have taken a picture--- but we were both too busy helping. It was so great to see my family and spend some time with them-- and it was also a good break from the studies for Rhett.

Part 2!!!

Okay.. so here is part two of the Battle of the Jay Walk All-Stars!! This one is even funnier-- for all you mormons out there!! Enjoy!!

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SOOO FUNNY

Okay this is so funny!! Just a little back up info. The girl with the bow is from Mesa, Az... the boy form Phoenix and the girl in the gray is a cosmetologist in Cedar City, Utah!! Listen to when she talks about Fillmore-- it is so funny!! Rhett and I could not stop Laughing about it!!

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I was tagged by my friend Becky a little while ago and i havent had time to fill it out... sometimes i have a hard time thinking of answers too.. but here it goes....

Here is how you do this one...
1- link the person who tagged you
2- post the rules on your blog
3- write six random things about you
4- tag six people at the end of your post and link them
5-let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6-let the tagger know when your entry is up

1- I have a very bad habit of leaving cupboards & drawers open!! i never shut anything!! It use to drive Rhett crazy... now he thinks it is funny!! When we make dinner, he will come in and count how many cupboards are open usually it is at least 5!! Horrible, horrible habit.... Even at work i never shut my drawers!! It drives my co-workers nuts.. and my clients ALWAYS bump into them!! How embarrasing!!

2-This isnt so random... but I LOVE ice cream!!!! Frozen yogurt, gelato, smoothies, popsicles, whatever is frozen and creamy I just cant get enough of it!!!

3- I love organizing things, everything has a place... i always wanted to be a professinal organizer!! Weird, i know, but i think life is so much easier when it is organized... sometimes when i am bored i will re-organize the closets.. just for the heck of it... k that is a lot of info....

4- Being the holiday season... i am one of those wierd shoppers that starts in like january!! I am not kidding... i bought serveral gifts for the family back in March!

5- I am a big bargain shopper... i will find what i want then go to like 3 stores to get the best price and then come home and make sure i cant get it cheaper online!! Even groceries!! Most of the time i shop at three different stores, one for dry goods, one for produce, and one for everything else.... yes really i do this every week... but it saves a med student and his wife a lot of money!!!

6- I cant think of another one... but if any of you can think of a random fact about me... please share!!!


I tag....

Bevin
Steph
Alaina
Kiley
Melanie
and whoever else wants too!!!