Aloha!

So my incredible husband took me on an INCREDIBLE vacation for our August 12th anniversary, August 21st(mine) and August 26th (his) birthdays. We went to Maui for the 13th-21st of August and stayed on Ka'anapali Beach. And it was more perfect than I had even imagined it would be! Oh my goodness I am in LOVE!! With my husband yes... but we all know that already. I am in LOVE with Hawaii! We had so much FUN! We RELAXED. We SLEPT. We SHOPPED. We ATE ATE ATE delicious food. He SNORKELED (I am slightly afraid of the ocean and was convinced something was going to "get me" if I went out too far... but go ahead honey have fun!! ;) ). We WALKED on the beautiful beach. We READ lots of books while laying on the beach (me=5 he=1). We got TAN. We went PARASAILING. We got to be TOGETHER with no commitments, no obligations and just TRUE FUN.




Our hotel was nice, and room beautiful. But the beach was perfect. The beautiful sand and crystal blue water and the perfect temperature the entire time was all I could have hoped for. I had thought it might be really crowded and busy on the beach- but no... it was perfect. We would wander out their each morning and have our pick of the lounge chairs and everything was quiet and beautiful. From the minute we stepped foot off the plane when we arrived- relaxation came over us and we could truly feel the "aloha spirit". I kept trying to get Spencer to think of a business he would want to start in Hawaii that would just HAVE to take us out there to live. Too bad its a tad expensive. Our daily schedule consisted of this: We would wake up and eat breakfast in our room (we had a kitchen so we got breakfast and lunch foods at Costco). We would be out on the beach by 9:00 or 9:30... then we would proceed to be total beach bums for the rest of the day, pausing our activities for only a lunch break. Around 4:00 we would go in for a shower and get ready for a night out and about in Maui. We would have dinner and shop and be back in our room by 9 every night where we would proceed to watch some of the Olympic action going on... then we would get ready to start it all again the next day. Now, I know many people might question our vacationing skills-- we didnt do much... and that was absolutely PERFECT for us!!



We didn't want to leave, but yes, the vacation had to come to an end and we had to get back to real life and work and school and every other thing we had committed too. So we headed back to Utah and it seems we hit the ground running... it has been non-stop since we got back! We will go back to Hawaii though to find that "aloha spirit" and relaxation that we had there... and we can't wait to go back!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Happy Two - Year Anniversary Baby!!! What a wonderful two years this has been for me!! I can't believe how fast these two years have gone by.






Spencer is everything I dreamed of having in a husband and even more than I ever dreamed of. He is KIND and GIVING, he is completely SELFLESS. He is a WORTHY priesthood holder, and has a DEEP LOVE and TESTIMONY of the Gospel. Spencer is INCREDIBLE with children and will make the BEST father (when that time comes). He is HILARIOUS and keeps me laughing... even in my grumpiest moments. He is a good DANCER. He is ATHLETIC. He is a great TEACHER. Spencer is a GREAT COOK. I LOVE that he likes to watch chick-flicks with me. He is ALWAYS there to CUDDLE. He LOVES to hog the bed... and that's ok with me only because I love him so much. He LOVES his family and he LOVES my family. And most importantly, he LOVES me more than I could have ever imagined being LOVED.

Girls Camp

This last weekend we had a small girls camp for just our ward. We hiked, we crafted, we ate yummy food, we sang songs, we laughed and played games all night long (all night for me was until 1:00 in the morning... a few others stayed up until 3:00) and every one of us climbed the rock wall up at the cabin all the way to the top!! Way to go ladies! Pictures to come later!

The Pioneer children sang as they walked, and walked and walked...

Two days after getting back from Laura's wedding, I took off for our Stake Youth Conference... to Martin's Cove... in full pioneer get-up, with a 17 pound bucket of my belongings, and ready to help the youth of our ward understand what it was like for the pioneers that came across the plains to the Great Salt Lake so many years before. It was HOT HOT HOT and DRY in Wyoming-- but it was beautiful. I am pretty sure with all the wind, and all the handcarts picking up so much dust that I swallowed a good pound of dirt during the few days we were there. Yummy.

Anyway, we hiked around 15 miles with our handcarts and our youth that were there did awesome! I am amazed at what the pioneers accomplished and barely had a glimpse of what they were required to do. Their strength and faithfulness was incredible and their steadfastness in Christ truly inspiring.

I hope I can show the same strength and faithfulness through my trials as the pioneers did through theirs!

Mr. & Mrs. Stevens

Two days after we got back from Oregon, we took off to San Diego to be with my BEAUTIFUL friend Laura Beardsley, as she married the LOVE of her life- John Stevens-. It was a beautiful ceremony, and very SWEET. The reception was GORGEOUS and so fun! We danced ALL night... but not until after we filled our empty stomachs with DELICIOUS food!! :)

Laura and I have been best friends since Middle School- through all of our many adventures and life experiences, she has always been there for me. From jazz choir and screaming in the halls at High Desert, nights under the stars talking about our futures, to planning Prom, student council retreats, choir, and of course the what seemed to be never ending love life experiences... she is one of the most caring and giving people that I know, always putting the needs of everyone else before her own.


It was so GREAT to be with Laura on her SPECIAL day- she was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and so in LOVE! The rehearsal dinner was a country western theme and we learned a few line dances and ate YUMMY BBQ food. It was so fun to hear what everybody had to say about the Bride and Groom and to be able to feel of their LOVE for each other and everyone with them that night.

I had FUN dancing with the LOVE of MY LIFE and sharing that weekend with him-- and I THANK him for being so patient with me while I was so BUSY all weekend with BRIDESMAID activities!!! I LOVE YOU SPENCER!!

Emma Beth Caldwell

I have to admit it has been a bit of a crazy month again. Let me start at the beginning. My wonderful Grandmother from Oregon had come out to Utah to visit family in June. Grandma Caldwell is in the picture above standing next to me. It began as a normal vacation visiting with her daughter and grandkids... but she started having trouble breathing- so they went to the emergency room. Trouble breathing turned into fluid in her lungs and a ten-day hospital stay. At one point, everyone thought she wouldn't make it, and at the next point she was up in bed with rosie cheeks, laughing and talking with all of her visitors- so of course we thought she would just take a few days to recover and she would pull through!

After running a few tests we all found out what was really going on. Grandma is said to have had ovarian cancer and kidney and renal failure and was given about two weeks to live. Seriously, how can someone ever be prepared for information like that? It came as a huge shock to everyone in the family. Next came the hard decision of what to do now, where to take her, and who could care for her. My parents wanted to be able to care for her and love her and give her everything she could possibly need in the last days of her life. She was brought to their house the morning of the 4th of July and from that moment on, we were together as much as possible as a family.

It was beautiful to see family-aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and great uncles gather around as well as friends and church leaders to share their love for my grandma and say their goodbyes. We had a few great days with Grandma sitting up in bed and talking with each of us, and then she started slipping away. She passed peacefully early evening of July 9th and was reunited with her Husband, Clifford, and her parents and siblings who had already passed.

It was an emotional experience, and especially hard to watch my dad deal with the loss of his mother and to watch my mom give my dad as much love and support as possible. My parents love and care for Grandma was beautiful and inspiring. And I loved watching our family gather together.

I can remember spending most of my Thanksgivings and Christmas Eve's over at Grandma's house growing up. We often had sleepovers at her house where she taught us to love watching old musicals and play Hungry Hungry Hippo, Uno, Phase 10 and Go Fish. We would always walk up to the gas station on the corner and get treats. I will always remember where she had a secret stash of Double Mint gum in the drawer next to the oven and every time we had a chance, Chase and I would sneak a piece (or two, three or four)! I will remember her making us tuna sandwiches for lunch and sourdough pancakes for breakfast, and of course will always remember her jam! I will always remember her phone calls during college giving me advice and encouraging me to keep working hard and keep looking for someone special. She told Spencer and I to love each other and enjoy our time together and talked about how she had been with Grandpa for 43 years and without him for 22. She said the 22 years had seemed a whole lot longer than the 43 years. She was ready to see Grandpa again, and I am glad she is. Although, I will miss her- she is not lonely anymore and in a much better place.

Her funeral was beautiful and I got to sing with Chelsea and two of my cousins- I Know that My Redeemer Lives. And all of Grandmas grandkids sang Families can be together forever. There were so many people there who loved her and cared for her it was inspiring to see. Thank you to everyone who took care of her, and who took care of all of us while we were in town!

Grandma- I love you!

A Day in the life...

I feel like all we do is work, work, work. A typical day consists of the following:
Spencer is up by 5:00 to go play basketball with guys in the Stake
I am up by 7:00 and to work by 8:30
Spencer spends the morning in class and heads straight to work right after that
We both work until 5
Most week nights we have church commitments/errands to run/lessons to prepare or other various assignments/and people to catch up with- it seems as though 5 nights out of 7 we don't settle down until at least 8:00.

So amidst the bleakness that occasionally seems to creep in we have many things to look forward to this summer

Bright Spots for this summer:
* Spencer finishes spring term next week!
*All the boat trips and fun in the sun!
*Beautiful Laura's wedding in beautiful San Diego!
*Our second Anniversary!
*Camping with my family!
*We both turn 24!
*Our trip to Hawaii!
*Spencer's last two semesters!
*Lazy days of summer! They are few and far between but we will look forward to each one we get!
*Catching up with long lost friends!
*A visit (we are hoping!!) from Amanda and the Kids!
*Our new niece and nephew coming in July and August!
*No school for Spencer in July and August!
*Going back to school for me (Interior Design!!)

So yea for us! There are some definite bright spots coming up!

The BIG move

With all the fun and busy-ness we had been having there was bound to be some bad news in the mix. Some of our very FAVORITE people moved from Provo back to their old stomping ground- Napa, CA. We are so SAD! Briant and Amanda and their amazing kids actually did it, they packed everything up and are starting a new life in sunny CA. We they talked about it before, I just thought they can't be serious- but then it became more and more real. They have not only been incredible brother and sister-in law for Spence and I but they have been our best friends too! We miss them like crazy and can't wait until we can go and visit them. Now, we just need to start saving our pennies to get out there and see them.

May = Birthday Bonanza

So many birthdays in May! look at these yummy cupcakes we had for Chelsea's birthday! Happy Birthday to Taylor, Chelsea, My Dad, Stephenie, and of course Miss Abigail! It was fun celebrating with those we could and wishing Happy Birthday to those we couldn't. Spencer has created a tradition of singing (and I am not talking about an award winning performance here) Happy Birthday to every special birthday person on their very special day... it is quite funny. If you are lucky, maybe you will get that special song too.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was awesome for us! Not only was it great to celebrate having such a wonderful, loving, self-less and giving, incredible Mother, but Chase and Shayla were in town for a wedding with their adorable Parker, and Taylor came down and spent an evening with us as well. It was so fun to have the whole family together!!
My wonderful mother's one request was to have all of us together for a family picture and to have all of her children around her in sacrament meeting on Mother's Day ( I guess that is two requests)- so What Mother Wants Mother Gets right? It was great! Parker is just about the cutest kid around (besides all the Frye nieces and nephews I have as well) he was so fun to play with! And of course to spend time with his cool Mom and Dad. It was also fun to catch up with this cool girl who is a total kick in the pants! She kept us all laughing throughout the picture taking session!
We can't wait to get everyone together again- Christmas seems so far away! So now, we just need to convince Chase and Shayla to move to Utah! We miss you guys! And of course, we love our Mother's!

Um... Finally.

So I am going to do some updating (finally!!). I am quite possibly the worst blogger there ever was- but oh well. I just really believe that we never have anything exciting to write about- but that doesn't give credit to all the people we spend time with.
Anyway, get prepared for a little update!

Tagged...

I was tagged by Miss Britt...


Ten Years Ago:
I was 13 and living in Bend Oregon. I was way into music and loved to go shopping!

Five Things On My To-Do List Today: ( since the day is over, I will do my to do list for the rest of the week!)
1. work, work, work like crazy (where I have a hundred things on my to-do list)
2. clean the kitchen
3. call Laura
4. see jules asap
5. sleep in on saturday

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. green apples
2. chips
3. popcorn & m&m's
4. yogurt & granola
5. pudding

If I suddenly became a billionaire...
Buy a beautiful house, and a beautiful new car, share some of my wealth with family members!, start a Design Company, TRAVEL the world, invest a bit and set up college funds (for the future children), oh so many things I would want to do if I were a billionaire

Five Places I have lived:
1. Vancouver, Washington
2. Bend, Oregon!
3. Provo, Utah
4. Orem, Utah
5.

Five Jobs I have had:
1. Electric Beach: Front Desk
2. Goodies in Bend: Ice Cream scooper
3. Oliver Garden: Server
4. Residential Treatment Center: Assistant Supervisor
5. Richards & Duckworth: Office Manager

5 Things You don't know about Me:
1. Everywhere I go, I look at the design and decor- and analyze it
2. I learned how to wake board last summer
3. I love to curl up with a good book and call it a day- even if it is early in the morning!
4. I love Mexican food- but I really miss it because there are no truly good Mexican restaurants here in Utah
5. It drives me nuts when people wear socks that don't match their outfits!

New Beginnings

We had New Beginnings tonight for Young Women's. It was so fun! It's a little weird to wake up one day and realize you are an adult- not only and adult, but an adult- leader in the church. Crazy! Sometimes I think I am not old enough to be a leader for these girls and other times I remember oh, I definitely am and all the things I have experienced so far in life can prove it!

I was in charge tonight- and chose the theme "Seeds of Excellence" and we talked all about "planting" good values and "nurturing the seeds", "cultivating", "harvesting", and letting our roots grow deep so that we can be steadfast and immovable!
We used watering cans, flowers, seeds, and gardening tools on the tables to decorate and of course had dirt cups for dessert. Huge thanks to my Mom for helping out and Spencer! You guys are amazing!

All in all, it was a success, and we had a good time! I wish I had taken pictures, but I forgot my camera at home. But I am really going to try to get some updated pictures on here soon!

Isn't it about time?

Well, I can't even begin to tell you how busy life has been over in our neck of the woods. And I have been slacking because of it... to my friends- I am sorry for falling off the face of the earth- i miss you! I am not sure how exactly to recap everything that has been going on, but I will do my best!

Work:
Tax season has long since begun. While I may not be pulling the long hours that the accountants are all pulling in the office... I am still incredibly busy during the day. Hundreds of phone calls to make, appointments to organize and reorganize and reorganize again because the clients aren't organized enough to come in when the are supposed too, tax returns to assemble for the IRS and the clients, files, files and more files to grab and put away, bosses to make happy and not to mention the phone ringing off the hook. I am always glad when it 5:00 because that means I get to go home to my honey and relax until it starts all over again the next day. Thus far, every week is just a bit busier than the previous week, and we have just under six weeks left!!! Ahhhh!! Its all good, its just all busy and crazy and what not.

For Spencer, work is great- also busy, but he is still loving it! He is still working at MGS and selling granite like crazy- he is working hard most days and hardly working on others! I love that his schedule can be so flexible! I just wish he would take more time for himself and go snowboarding or something before the season ends! He is also busy with school and is already anxious to be done with it. He is pushing hard to be done in a year, but I am encouraging him to take the summer off because he has been on overload for a while now... so we shall see what happens. He is doing awesome in all his classes and has presentations every week that I love to see him get dressed up for (so handsome!) and he aces all of them! Way to go!

Church
I got called as the first counselor in the Young Women's presidency in January and have thus added a few more things to our busy lives- but I love it. It is a really unique group of girls and they are all wonderful. We have an interesting ward... that we have grown to love... but what I really love is serving the Lord and strengthening myself and helping strengthen the people around me. We have New Beginnings on Tuesday night... I am in charge and have had the wonderful help of my Mom for the theme and invites- its going to be so cute!! I will take pictures (because I swear I am going to be a better blogger!)

Spencer has stayed with the same calling- Temporal and Spiritual Wellness Chairman and has helped us make friends with practically everyone in the ward because he is so involoved! Plus, he has been playing on the ward basketball team and kicking some serious butt... if you can even do that in church ball. I just know that things have gotten a little heated a few times (not with Spencer he is way to nice) but I am telling you- some of these men!! Whoo, they get fired up. Its been fun to watch and sit with the other gals in the ward. Church ball is SERIOUS. No joking around with the men about it, but the girls all have fun talking and laughing about it.

Family
The Caldwell family is no longer in Bend Oregon. No, no, they are here in Utah!!! Yea for me! They moved to Utah in February, and have actually been living with Spencer and I until they find a place to live. Those of you that have been to our apartment might not believe that we could all fit here, but we have made it work and everyone has been happy! When they first came out we got to see Chase and Shayla and Parker as well, as Chase was helping get everything down here. It was so fun to hang with them and get to love up on cute little Parker! They will be out at Silver Lake (Eagle Mountain area) next week. Channing has been going to Lehi High School and is having a good time. He is on the Lacrosse team and loving that!!

We spent Christmas with Spencer's family in Napa, CA -which was so fun! We went to San Francisco, did tons of shopping, played games (Spencer and I were the winners all around!!) ate good food, relaxed and had a ton of fun with all the Fryes! A couple of the Fryes will be adding little ones to the family this summer- Mike and Heidi are due in August and Brandon and Melissa are having another boy in July! We are so excited to have more nieces and nephews! Yea!!