One Year Down...Many to Go!

One year ago at this time Sam and I were anxious, nervous, and twitterpated about getting married the next day. Our actual wedding day did not turn out as exactly planned, however, it will forever be the very best day of my life. This past year has been more lovely than I ever could have imaged because I have been able to spend it with the most amazing person who means the world to me.

My goal was to edit and finish these wedding photographs at least one year from when we tied-the-knot. I'm happy I was able to do so and see how much Sam and I mean to each other through these photographs. Thank you to our wonderful photographer Casey Hyer who did an amazing job and who visited the Temple with Sam and I three times in order to have these delightful memories preserved.

The Details:

The Boutonnieres:

The Couple:

From Dull and Drab, to Colorful and Welcoming!

Sam and I are obsessed with HGTV home makeover shows! Since we don't have cable (actually we are thinking of getting rid of our Television altogether) we take advantage of watching it every chance we get, on plane trips, hotel stays, and even sometimes other peoples houses. It's probably a good thing we don't have cable or else we would be watching it non-stop!
One of our favorite TV shows is Income Property, since we own a duplex it would be natural we would get sucked into it. Our new favorite has become Curb Appeal, which is full of ways to help you realize how unappealing your curb may be.

Sam and I feel living in Sugarhouse gives us so much room to play with color and get away with something that maybe other neighborhoods might frown upon. We decided our place has so much potential that we haven't yet taken advantage of. So this weekend I was excited to spruce it up a bit- release it from its dullness and drabness, if you will.

Here is the before:



The during:









And After:



Now we aren't finished. This is just what I was able to transform in a few short hours on a Saturday afternoon. I have a feeling Sam and I will have a few more projects like this in the near future.

Hope you Enjoyed!

Cruise'n with the Spencers!

Last week Jennifer and I spent some much anticipated time in the Caribbean sun! We had a lot of fun and are now just trying to figure out when/how we can go back! We loved our destinations/adventures, enjoyed the entertainment, and unfortunately weren't terribly impressed with the food. But overall, it was a great time.

Apparently I'm not enjoying the shuttle ride as much as Spence is... Jennifer and Annalisa...also enjoying the shuttle ride more than myself.
Unhappy to find out this was just a bench and not a real big scoop of ice cream!
Here we are, as white as can be (and determined to stay that way), in Nassau, Bahamas.


A satisfying smile after a nice swim off the beach.

The hills at St. Martin.


Have GOT to stop and admire the flowers!

We had a whole day to spend in St. Martin, so we rented scooters and toured around the island going from beach to beach...sorry, no pics of the nude beach - it was gross.









Our view from our lunch stop...beautiful view AND fantastic food!


All Spence would talk about was how dissapointed Whitney would be if we didn't visit this "crazy" airport.
Formal night.

Showdown at Sundown (aka Letdown at Sundown)

After last year's wonderful experience racing in Vegas, my brothers and I had been looking forward to this event all year. That is until Greg got sick...but it was still an opportunity to meet up, have fun, and compete in a challenging race.

Some things could have been better - the swim was cancelled due to fridgid temperatures, a bee flew into my helmet and stung my head on the bike, we had some fairly strong head winds to battle against on the bike, etc. But all that is part of the race and nothing to complain about - in fact, I was still smiling and having a great day up to this point.

But when a race has advertised aid stations (water) at miles 20 and 40...and you're out of water at mile 40 and cannot find this elusive 2nd aid station - you may find yourself feeling dehydrated by mile 45 and cramping by mile 50. In fact, you might feel that the "Showdown" is more aptly described as a "Letdown."

Thank you a thousand times to the random young lad that offered me his 10oz. water bottle in the turn-around parking lot. And special thanks to the unknown hotel lobby that let me fill up my water bottles while half-way up the last 7-mile 1600 ft hill climb. Both were answers to prayers!

And for anyone thinking about doing a race by Sunset Racing (namely the Showdown at Sundown) - I'd recommend a more organized race like __________ (insert any other triathlon event here)! I for one will not be back. But it was a small success regardless, even though Greg had to race the shorter event; I was still able to beat Mike (revenge from last year) and we made the best of our trip.

It was good to spend time with Greg and Kellie and we hope Greg gets better soon. We also enjoyed the quality time with Miguel and Kathleen (Michael's special friend). And thank you to the Heaps Foundation for letting us stay with you guys for a night - pickleball was a blast!

Also, the biggest thanks to Jennifer for supporting me through all this and putting up with all the hours away while training. She's also a great partner at pickleball. If given the choice, I'd have to go with Jennifer over Heaps - just going with the scoreboard on this one...haha! Below are some great photos she took of the event:

Resolution to Save Money!!!

This year Sam and I decided we would switch up the usual New Years Resolution of promising to do something at the beginning of the year, later to find that we have broken it a few months or even weeks later. We decided for the year 2011 each of us would create one goal each month that we would focus on. For me January was to save money. It ended up being a ton of fun!

Looking over where Sam and I have been spending our money the past 6 months was a little hard to look at at first. One of our largest expenses was food and toiletries (basically everything you would buy at Walmart and Costco) which was $500.00 in the month of December. Now I know what you are thinking, Sam does eat a lot of ice cream, but $500 is TOO much for two people. Granted we ended up doing a few Secret Santa's that also ended up in that category.

So how did we choose to save our money? Coupons!!!

You may have seen the show on TLC about Super Couponers. It shows people with carts stacked full of name brand items which originally cost over $600.00, after these coupon ladies are finished they walk away paying a little over $2.00.

Sam and I have a good friend named Annalisa. She is amazing with coupons, so much so she should be on the TLC show! Her website slavetosave is devoted to couponing and great deals. She told me a little bit about her couponing ways and for a bit there I was skeptical, thinking she probably bought a ton of stuff she normally wouldn't have and ended up buying things she would never use just because it was a "good deal."

I got so intrigued, I decided I would make couponing my goal for January and see if it could really make a difference for Sam and me. I must say I got a little excited about it!

The Result (one month from starting):

This morning I had the day off, so I headed to Rite Aid early. This is what I scored!

(Sorry for the terrible photo, I misplaced my camera, so this is from my touch)

2 Tubs Lysol Disinfecting Wipes (80 count)

1 KY Yours and Mine

2 pkgs. Venus Disposable Razors for Her (3 count)

2 Exedrin Extra Strength

1 Dayquil LiquidCaps

1 NyQuil LiquidCaps

2 Lysol All Purpose Bathroom Cleaners

5 Lysol Disinfectant Sprays

2 pkgs. Halls Cough Drops

1 pkg Lindt Truffles

2 rolls Mentos (the fresh maker)

1 Finesse Mouse

1 Finesse Hairspray

1 Garnier Fructis Conditioner

1 Garnier Fructis Mousse

1 box Cheese Its (my weakness)

2 Lysol Fabric Mists

1 Sally Hansen Polish Remover

1 Borghese Nail Polish

2 pkgs. Betty Crocker Cookies

2 pkgs. Betty Crocker Cake Mix

2 pkgs. Betty Crocker Brownies

2 pkgs. Betty Crocker Chocolate Frosting

Total before coupons: $131.83

Total after coupons: $21.21

That's right, I didn't mistype anything! I saved $110.00 in one trip! Sam is even getting into it, last week he bought 6 tubs of Dreyer's ice cream for $.16 each! I'm positive it will be devoured within a couple of weeks.

I think it's going to be hard for us to stop with these prices! The crazy thing is after only a month I have a stockpile of cleaners, deodorants, toothpastes, and snacks to last us through at least the next 6 months, and I spent less than our total for the month of December.

Also, there were $48.00 worth of coupons that printed out at the bottom of my receipt. These are coupons I can basically spend on whatever I wish at Rite Aid. Trust me I'll be able to find something to buy!

Now if only I can have this much success with my February goal of exercising. :)

Merry Christmas!

Sam and I fully intended on sending out handmade, handwritten Christmas cards this year; however we just finished our thank you cards from our wedding about a month ago. We decided a nice blog post photo would suffice. :)

My cute friend and coworker Lindsey Briggs shot this photo just in time for a snow covered backdrop. Thanks Lindsey!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Love, Sam and Jennifer

Merry Christmas from the Stampin Up Photo Team!

Every year our team at work puts together a funny Christmas card. Hope your holidays are wonderful!