My Apologies!

I had been a blogging fiend the last little while, but this wk has been a little different. I have been busier than usual so I haven't had the chance to upload pictures yet. But I assure you I will get to it! Especially since I have last weekends! And more to come this weekend too!

A Teaser for the Wknd

Before I post about the weekend, I have to share a "special" story from the wedding festivities... While we were in the waiting room before the sealing, Dani Bree's dad came and gave us parking validation. We read it and it said "Complimentary Parking, Charge the Master." After the wedding, we went to get our car in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. As we were leaving, we handed our entrance ticket and the parking validation to the guy at the booth. He asked if we had validation, which we thought we'd already handed him. He tells us he has never seen that type of validation before. So, we tell him we just got out of the sealing at the temple and that's what they gave us. Then he asks us "Well, who's the Master?" I lean over Collin from the passenger seat and say "God?" We tell him the gentleman in the car behind us (my dad) has the same ticket, and he lets us go. At the next light out of the JSMB, we stop and my dad pulls up. He asks us if we paid for our parking, to which we tell him that we gave our Validation ticket. Then he informs us that the validation ticket was for our parking at the St. Regis for the reception. Whoops. We didn't live that down for the rest of the wknd. So embarrassing. Anyway, more deets and pics to come later!!

GORGEOUS!!!!!

Last post, I mentioned how beautiful the change in seasons has been here in Logan! Oh my goodness! We walked to church on Sunday! It's actually pretty ridiculous that it was the first time that we have walked, since we've lived about a block away from the building for over a year now.

Also, last post, I took a picture of some fantastic yellow daffodils. Confession: they're the neighbors flowers. I didn't feel any remorse for taking the picture, but I didn't want to take credit for the flowers being at our house.

So, we have a few clusters of flowers that bloomed over the weekend, a tree that has huge white blossoms. It has more and more blossoms every day.

Plus our pear trees even have little buds on them too! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! So beautiful.

and of course

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since I've started this post

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it's now raining

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and gloomy

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but hopefully this means the flowers will bloom quicker

i.e.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

...

Right?

So excited!

This wknd, my awesome cousin, Daron is getting married. We are so excited for him. He and Dani Bree will be sealed in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple.

And Collin and I get to stay in this Marriott MountainSide hotel with my parents and grandparents for the weekend.

And their reception will be at the St. Regis @ Deer Creek. Yes, you have to take a gondola to get there. Ok, fine, we'll go!

I couldn't be more excited for them, and that this weekend we get to hang out with family. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and some cousins will be there, and it will be a blast. So, of course, actual pictures that I will take will be added later! :)

Oh ya...

I got my hair cut, too! I'm loving it so far! It's a bit shorter than I initially expected, but I'm so glad because the shortness of it hasn't hindered me from all the different styles I like to do. I can still curl it, scrunch it, straighten it, round brush it, put it up for the gym (pig-tails is the most effective for that... cheesy, but effective). It feels healthy, blended, and new. Thank you, Riana! If I get around to taking a good pic, I might post it!

Loving Logan!

We (I) came to this blessed land 1 year ago, and I just love it! The Sun is shining, the birds are chirping, there are buds and blossoms on the trees and Spring is finally coming back into our lives. It's the gorgeous Logan we remember from last year. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the snow and the crisp winter. But, I'm totally ready for warmth.

This weekend, we decided to get out of the house and actually do something. We went to "Baby Animal Days" at the American West Heritage Center. It was so fun to go and experience one of the festivals they have in Logan. There were tons of baby chicks, ducks, sheep, bunnies, goats, and even bears from Yellowstone/Bear World.

They had a huge display. I only had my phone to take pictures, which isn't the best way to capture a moment. But I must say, this one wanted to come home with Collin.

I don't really know what we're doing here, but they gave us these when we saw the bears!

It was really fun to get out and do something we had never done. It helps us appreciate Logan a lot more. We are determined to go to all the "days" of Logan and live out our Logan Experience to the fullest.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

This day, 82 years ago, my wonderful grandmother came into this world. She really is an incredible woman. Everyone I know calls her Grandma Shirley. There are little children who are not even closely related who call her Grandma Shirley. She's seriously unbelieveable. She remember everyones birthdays and makes everyone feel so special. She has influenced so many people, and probably more people than I can even imagine. Here are a few words to describe her.

Teacher. Compassionate. Funny. Christ-like. Honest. Spiritual. Virtuous. Hard-working. Comforting. Interested. Genuine. Loving. Example. Kind. Understanding. Fabulous. Amazing. Devoted. In-tune. Friend. Involved. Fashionable.

It's happening! It's really happening!

As most of you know, I have a slight obsession. I LOVE to get my hair done. Cut, colored, whatever! I can't go longer than 5 or 6 weeks without contemplating my next hair change. I've kept it pretty simple the last few times and just done the same thing over and over. A few weeks ago, I posted something about how I was going to get my hair done. (This was right around that 6 wk mark.) Cory and Tiffany's fam came to town that weekend, so I ended up cancelling with Riana. But it's been probably 10 weeks since my last cut (which was in some whole-in-the-wall salon that didn't exactly strike my fancy). So, Riana is coming to town again and I finally get to pay her a visit and get my hair done. Hallelujah! I'm excited for the change! Pictures to come, hopefully!

Pic of the Day

This was our view out our basement door. I love how the railing looks with the snow and the tree branches in the background. Watch out, Ansel Adams.

My Easter Bunny!

Collin is the sweetest dude. He makes me smile every single day and I feel so blessed to be his wife. I know, gag me with a spoon... we're disgusting with all this mumbo jumbo lovey dovey stuff. Get over it. Marriage rocks! And we love each other. :)

But seriously! Collin is the most thoughtful hubs. Last year, he surprised me with a super cute Easter basket that I didn't see coming at all. So, this year, I decided to get him a couple of fun things and create my own Easter basket for him. To gear up for our trip to Africa, I got him a few Game Books. Sudoku. Word Find. YES! Gotta love 4 for $5 at the grosh. Some beef jerkey. A bit of Easter Candy (can't resist). And a child basketball hoop. (Collins nephew has one and every time we go to their house, he LOVES playing with it... and I saw it at Wal-Mart for cheap, so I couldn't resist). Just a few things. Not over the top, but just enough. He was THRILLED.

And he surprised me yet again too. A huge Easter Basket with lots of candy, little games and such, and also a new charm link necklace. He'd gotten me a bracelet similar to it last year that fell off of my wrist in Downtown Denver, never to be found again (I'm pretty sure I cried a little). Anyway, the necklace was the same style, but it will be much harder to lose with it around my neck. :) The funny thing is that we both got eachother "The Blind Side" DVD. Made us laugh. We hadn't seen it yet and we ended up loving it.

I love celebrating holidays with him. I had been a bit bummed about not spending Easter with any Thornton or Rothey family, but it turned out to be a great weekend, full of Conference, surprises and love! Happy Day!

General Conference!

Welcome back, General Conference! Thank you for coming! I wish you could stay a while. Sometimes 2 days just isn't long enough. Thank you for being online and available for listening while I'm at work. It has made my otherwise slow and gloomy saturday at work so much more enjoyable. Thanks again! Yours truly, Traci Anne

3 Months!

I went 3 long months with no candy or soda. A serious feat for the sugar lover that I am. I didn't stop eating sweets though. So, in many cases, I substituted my candy cravings for other sugar-filled yummy's. But, even still. I did not have ANY candy for 3 months. Well, and then some. I don't remember the last day I had any in 2009. As the end of March approached, I started thinking long and hard about what I was up to with this whole situation. No candy. I'm sure my teeth and my dentist are happy about it. But, if I was doing this candy-fast to be healthier, I don't know if it worked the best because of the said substitutions. March 31st I made a decision. To end the Candy-fast. I went out and bought some of these:

for Easter. I think the increase in sugar made me a bit sick at first. I consider it a success that I'm no longer addicted. (We'll see how long it lasts though.) As for the soda, I'm fine to have that out of my life. One of our new favorite concoctions is pink lemonade with orange slices. We tried it at PeiWei. A delicious treat if you haven't had it!

April Fools

Wow! It's April! We had a lovely April Fools prank played on us this morning. We woke up to mass amounts of snow. And the power out. Awesome. What a way to bring spring into our lives. I'm grateful for the moisture and that it will bring beautiful green landscape and flowers. But, really? This much snow is getting a little ridiculous. Especially for April. I mean, seariously! I must say, I do enjoy the snow a bit more than the nasty mud rain we've been having. It's so gross, and coats our cars with this grody film. So, I'll take the snow over that crap any day of the week. I'm just anxious for spring, and summer, and warmth, and sunshine, and playing outside and such. Mother nature, I didn't appreciate the April Fools joke, but it was a good one.

So many exciting things are happening in the next little while, and now that it's April, everything is seeming closer and closer. General Conference, Carly's wedding preparations/get-together, Daron's wedding, family visiting, Owen's baby blessing, lots of family bdays, Brooke's baby shower, Bree's bridal shower, Carly's wedding, Mother's day, Africa, etc etc etc. Just exciting. And then lots more stuff with the summer! Bring it on! I love it!!