Grandparents are the best!

Today I just wanted to expree my love for grandparents--I am so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents in my life. My Grandma and Grandpa Andrew have both unfortunately passed on, but their love and example live with me always. My Grandpa Andrew is probably the sweetest man I have ever known! He had no guile and just the sweetest, biggest heart ever!

My Grandma Andrew was the same, always such a delight to be around. I remember going to visit them and she would always have oreos in here blue jar on the counter. We would sit on the couch and visit with them and then raid the cookie jar and head downstairs to fight over who would get to play the frogger game first.


My Grandma and Grandpa Jolley are the funnest grandparents EVER! My Sweet Grandma is the most amazing seamstress and best cook in the whole world. She made all of my prom dresses and altered my wedding dress to make it perfect. She has lovingly and willingly shared her talent with so many around her. She is also the best Hand and Foot partner ever because she NEVER loses. I think that is one of my favorite memories with them, staying up into the wee hours of the morning playing hand and foot! I also never left grandma's house without getting my take-home treat!

My Grandpa is the sweetest and cutest old Grump you ever saw! His loving, twinkling eyes can make anyone feel happy. I remember one of my favorite memories as a kid was going up to grandma and grandpa's house and taking long walks with grandpa over to the golf course or just sitting out on his swing looking at the beautiful mountains or star filled sky. Grandpa is the funnest to have on your team in Hand and Foot because he cheats the best! Grandpa is also the best to watch movies with , especially comedies because his laugh is so contagious.

I never got to meet Brian's granparents because they both passed away before we met, but I know how much mine mean to me and I am sure they were just the same. It is so hard to accept that my grandparents won't be here in my life forever. I love them so much and hate to think of life without them. They really are the greatest ever. I just wanted to pay this little tribute to them and let them know how much I love them!!

I am woman hear me roar

So, this post is a little late in coming, but at least I am posting something new! We have recieved tons and tons of snow here lately. Last Sunday we had an unexpected snowstorm and then were hit pretty hard on Wednesday with another huge storm. Brian was barely able to get out to school before the snow piled too high.
They cancelled school for Brian and work for me at about 9:30 because the roads were so terrible. I knew that once the snow stopped I would need to get out there and shovel the driveway so that Brian could get the car in. It finally let up and this is what I was left to shovel! The pictures really don't do it justice.

We probably had over a foot of snow in some area on the driveway with the drifts and this was perfect snowball fighting ammo. Super dense and packed. I was so proud of myself that I was able to shovel half of our driveway all by myself! It was quite the task, but never fear Mindy is here!....(we still only have half of it shoveled)


After accomplishing my huge feat I rewarded myself with this!

A luxurious Bubbble bath! Brian thought it was such a good idea that when he got home I had to run one for him as well!

Presidential Primaries

So....today I am using my blog to blow off a little steam--I am so bugged, angry, and disappointed in the coverage of the presidential primaries from the media. It is so compeletely biased and ridiculous. Brian and I have been watching this year's election really closely with all of the debates, forums, caucuses, and polling. The only people they give time to on the Rebulican side are Huckabee and McCain. Ewwww!! I can't stand either one of them. I feel like Huckabee is so out of touch with what is going on in the world. All he knows how to do is play the religion card. He has no real substanitial plans on any issues and just seems way too idealisitc.

McCain, on the other hand, will probably die on us in office, if he even makes it that far. I do not agree with his constant personal hits at Romney. Romney at least attacked McCain's record and stand on issues, not his personal character. I really don't like McCain's idea for immigration and I just really think that he lacks the skills and mind set to change what needs to be changed.

I really like Romney's ideas regarding health care and immigration. I think that he has the experience and business mind-set to really improve our economy, which is seriously struggling. I like how he presents himself and I think that he is very concise in his responses to questions. While no politician is perfect, I would much rather see Romney head this country than any of the before mentioned, and for sure any democrat running.

Romney took 2nd in Iowa, 1st in Wyoming (which the media never covered and barely even mentioned), 2nd in New Hampshire, 1st in Michigan(which the media also downplayed due to the fact that his father was a governor there) 1st in Nevada today (which they are not covering because it was "uncontested"), and for the first time will probably finish 3rd in South Carolina.

There is not one other Republican candidate that has that stong of a record and yet, they continue to make excuses for his wins! He does NOT get the amount of positive air time that everyone else does. However, they will be the first to report anything negative on him. I am so absolutely frustrated! At least in the end it is the number of delegates you win and not the media that decides, but seeing as how the media has such a strong influence on people I wish they would try to be a little more objective!

Home for Christmas

There is nothing like a Utah Christmas. Fresh snow on the ground, the beautiful snow covered mountains, and a bright blue sky morning. We had so much fun this break Skiing with family up at Snowbird, sledding and snomobiling with family at Emron and Aaron's cabin, Playing games with friends, going to the Nutcracker on Chrimas Eve, Seeing our new little nephews...and one one the way, and just spending time with family and friends that we haven't seen.

Our new little nephew

Here are some photos of our new little nephew Darren! (dosen't Brian just look like a natural! :) Darren is such a good baby and what a joy! Congrats again Paul and Corinne!

New Year's

New Year's Was awesome (when we finally made it) Brian and I were returning from California after visiting our cute little nephew and Paul and Corinne. Our flight kept getting delayed and we finally made it up to Midway for the New Year's celebration with all our friends just a few minutes into the New Year. It was a blast though!! It was sooo much fun to see everyone that we have missed so much. It was great to just talk and catch up with good friends! Thanks to Nate and Lauren for holding it at your place and letting us crash after calling it a night no later than 5:00 A.M.! We hope that all of you are having a wonderful 2008 and can't wait to see all of you again soon. I was so disappointed that we didn't get pictures with everyone. :( We definitely have to do it next time.

Christmas in Iowa

This Christmas was a blast! We really enjoyed being with friends and family so much. Brian and I had our Christmas together on the morning of the 23rd just before flying home to Salt Lake City. My favorite gift would have to be my new Coach purse. I really love it and I was in dire need of a replacement. My coworkers were pleased to find out that I retired my last torn up purse to the garbage.

Brian's favorite gift this year was his excercise bike. He has being eyeing this upright bike at Walmart for the past month or so and I kept trying to downplay it and push it aside so that he would not just run out and buy it before Christmas. His running arguement was that his parents were giving us money for Christmas this year and that he could just go buy the bike now and then when we got our chistmas money he could just deposit it in the bank. I kept insiting that we wait...so he wouldn't spoil his Christmas. It all turned out though and he was surprised.



Flying back home was quite the ordeal! We were delayed in Iowa City for 6 hours and then finally were on our way to Minneapolis and the pilot came over the speaker and said that if they didn't get approval to land from air traffic control soon then we would be forced to fly back to waterloo...which is really making no progress at all. Luckily we did get the go ahead from air traffic control and made it to Minneapolis. In minneapolis our flight was cancelled and we ran the risk of having to fly out the next morning, but gratefully the flight attendant back in Iowa City booked us for both flights flying out that night to Salt Lake City just in case. So we decided to take the risk that this later flight we were booked on would not get cancelled as well. By doing so we ran the risk that if we did not get out successfully that night by then tomorrow's flights would be much more full and we probably would not get out until late afternoon or night of Christmas Eve. However, the risk paid off and after sitting on the plane for an hour and a half we were finally on our way to Salt Lake City. We arrived at 1:00 in the morning when we were supposed to arrive at 4:00 the afternoon of the 23rd, but we were happy we made it!