Well, it definitely lived up to it's name...

Corey and I celebrated our 3 year Anniversary on May 10th! We didn't do much the day of because we planned on a trip to Las Vegas the next weekend. Corey's parents take a big trip every other year and this year they planned to go to Vegas. They asked if Corey and I, as well as his brother and his brother's girlfriend would like to join them. Being only slightly less than an three hour drive from Vegas, we definitely obliged. I can't say that I was overly thrilled to be going to Vegas for our Anniversary but I knew it would be good to spend time with Corey's parents and his brother (who I have only really seen twice).

At one time I thought Vegas would be fun to experience. Then we did. I can't say that I desire to ever return. I can definitely attest to it's nickname "Sin City". I won't go into detail but that city is literally crawling with temptation and sin, which everyone walks around freely accepting. At times, I was seriously disgusted and heartbroken at the state of this world. There were somewhat redeemable aspects to the city...the incredible architecture and themes of the casinos and resorts, good shows and the fact that the pawn shop from the hit show "Pawn Stars" is located there :) Other than my utter shock (even though I had been warned) to the blatant sin, the clouds of cigarette smoke in the casinos (or walking by them), the "pleasure pit" (I'll let you figure that one out) which Corey and I unfortunately stumbled upon and the multitudes of people, I did enjoy our visit with Corey's family. We were able to do some pretty incredible things with them, including a tour to the Grand Canyon (with a short helicopter ride inside :), the Hoover Dam and the Mojave Dessert (the only place that Joshua Trees grow ;). We were also able to enjoy some great food and get our first (and last) go around with slot machines. Here are some pictures from our short trip...

The Colorado River that flows into Lake Mead (the largest man made lake in the world, or may be the 2nd largest...I'm not very good with tour facts) is very low...I can't remember exactly by how much, but as you can see, it's pretty low.

The Hoover Dam...if you look really close you can see people and cars at the top. You can also see some tractor trailer truck on top of that HUGE bridge in the back.

Oh Corey ;)

Driving through the Mojave Dessert to get to the Grand Canyon (this is taken through the bus window, so it's not super clear).

We arrived at the Grand Canyon Ranch (I'm not exactly sure how to describe it..."odd" doesn't seem sufficient) where they took us to the Helicopter pads in a horse drawn wagon. This ranch is one of the first established in this region with the original cabin still there (again, I don't know the exact date or details ;).

I wouldn't put these helicopters in the same category as those from the Bachelor...they were a bit more rickity :) It was truly amazing to experience the Grand Canyon from that vantage point though. It's really hard to imagine not believing in God period, but especially after seeing it.

I know it seems like it should be bigger, but to give you some perspective, there is a white dot on the river that is actually a boat dock with boats, a building and helicopters landing around it.

We saw this show our first night in Vegas...it was supposed to be similar to Cirque De Sole. It was impressive, but a little strange. Let's just say it started out with the image of a baby talking in a large hanging globe and somewhere along the way a very large plastic barbie came out of the ceiling...

The view from our room on the 54th floor of the Planet Hollywood Towers. I won't lie, our room was pretty suite ;)

A few other things not pictured...
~Our visit to the Pawn Shop, which was actually very small and overpriced :(
~ The awesome Brits on our tour that entertained my talk of the Royal Wedding ;)
~Phantom of the Opera! I went with Jeremy and Lindy to see Phantom, which was SO good (we weren't allowed to take pictures inside), while Corey and his parents saw the ultimate Variety show. I hear Corey went on stage for a portion of it...a mask was involved, but I'm still not clear on what actually happened :)
~All of our incredible meals, including Holsteins in the Cosmopolitan where Corey and I discovered Bailey's Oreo Milkshakes!
~And finally, Corey's dad almost choking to death at the Billagio Buffet...he's fine now, but for a few seconds there we were sincerely panicking ;)

My advice for future Vegas visits? Don't. Okay, but if I had to go back? I would hang by the pool, order room service and maybe venture out to a few shows.

I hate it, but I love it...

I just can't seem to get this blogging thing down. I get on a bit of a role with keeping up and then I forget I have a blog altogether. I'd like to say that I've been super busy since the last time I updated, but I honestly can't remember what has happened since then. I know I took a trip to Wyoming to see some dear friends and experience a little taste of the windy west. Other than that, our life has been pretty uneventful :) I guess I need to learn how to make my sometimes mundane life a little more exciting so I have something to blog about :)

The title of this post, however, is not to discuss my love/hate relationship with blogging, it's actually about my love/hate relationship with P90x! Corey and I began this exercise program about 2 months ago. It's a series of workout DVD's that are to be done everyday, with the exception of a rest/stretch day. Corey is doing the classic version (which I started out doing but felt like my legs doubled in size within the first week!) and I'm doing the lean version (which is basically building leaner muscle with more cardio based workouts). That protein shake is what we have to look forward to after each workout...surprisingly, I have come to crave it :)


We decided to forego the nutrition plan that goes along with the intense P90x program (we've heard it's pretty ridiculous:). Through Chick-fil-A we have a access to Chick-fil-A Wellness which provides one to one coaching for Operators and their wives. So now, once a month, we get on a conference call (not together, we have different trainers and different goals :) with a nutritionist and trainer to update them and be held accountable for how we are doing in our plans (my trainer is the one who suggested I switch to the lean version to avoid my legs developing into tree trunks). My goal is just to be more healthy all around - to develop healthier eating habits and exercise routinely. Corey's goal is to run faster and jump higher. For the past two months we have both been making wiser choices with what we eat and getting through P90x every day (I guess I shouldn't say every day because there are days we inevitably miss and days I refuse to do, like yoga...it's an hour and half spent mostly on your toes and wrists and I absolutely despise it!). We've even gotten some of our team members on the p90x bandwagon!

We go through periods of time where we get a kick out of Tony Horton (he's the guy on the cover who leads the workouts...no, we don't look like him yet :) and times where he's the last person on earth we want to listen to while we're working out :) But, in a sense, he has become part of our little family. I'm pretty sure Peyton would recognize him in real life since she's heard his voice so much :) Before Ab Ripper X, which is an ab workout about 16 minutes long that makes your abs feel as though they are literally ripping from your body, Tony efficiently describes it by saying "I hate it, but I love it". I would say this statement adequately describes how I feel about the entire thing :)

It's actually a handy little system. You can take the DVD's with you anywhere and all you really need is a resistance band (or a small set of weights...I wouldn't recommend traveling with those though:) and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. It's been fun to have Corey as a partner it is as well. We are able to hold each other accountable and see how our bodies have changed as a result. I would highly recommend it to anyone who really wants to whip themselves into shape! I will warn you though, the hardest part is not just pushing the play button :)

ps...Be on the lookout for my next post about our trip to Vegas, with a little of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam on the side :)

It's a hoot!

I'm on an owl kick. Truth be told, I have been for a while now. I'm not talking about "owl overload" here (It's not like I want everything I wear, accessorize or decorate with to be owl) but I do scan through Etsy.com on occasion actively seeking out new owl merchandise. It's become somewhat of hobby (I definitely do not purchase all the stuff I find, that would for sure be owl overload) but it's fun to browse. Anyway, I've gotten the idea from some other blogs I follow to feature certain ideas or tips from week to week. So, I figured I would share my favorite owl finds every now and then, starting now. You may not enjoy this as much as I will :)

*Hand made pillow cover made by the seller sukanart on Etsy.

*Hand made clutch style wallet and card holder made by the seller jcarterhandmade on Etsy.
(I actually did buy this, but just the wallet:)

*Hand made Gadget Case made by the seller sewingamity on Etsy.

March Madness

It turns out March has been just about as busy as February...

I turned 25+1 on March 5th and my mom flew out for the weekend as a surprise. We ate at the Sycamore Inn, which was built in like 1914, for my birthday dinner. We didn't quite realize it was going to be as expensive as it was, but it's one of those places that are fun to go to like once a year :)

Corey surprised me by taking me to Coronado Island for a night's stay in the Hotel Del Coronado! My freshman year of college I visited San Diego with my sister for Spring Break and Coronado Island quickly became my favorite place in California. When we moved out here I immediately began pestering Corey to stay in the Del. These are just a few highlights from our wonderful getaway (there's more on facebook).
Coronado Island is in the bottom left corner (the bridge to the right is the only way to get on the Island from San Diego). The big red roof on the Island is the Del :)

The March excitement continued when my sister and her family came out for a visit :) We had a wonderful venture to the Pacific Aquarium in Long Beach, hunted down a Merry-go-round for Maggie to ride a "horse" and ate way too much :)

I thought I had more pictures of Kenny :( I realized I took several on my phone that turned out too dark, but do not mistake his lack of pictures as Corey and I not loving him as much as Mags :) He's an amazingly sweet little guy who loves everyone, even me :) Oh, and I think seahorses are way cool, that's why there's a featured pic of one :)

February, in a nutshell...

I have a very good friend (aka. Amanda:) who very sensitively told me I'm not doing a very good job of watering my blog. That was several months ago and here I am still averaging about one post a month :) I do apologize for the lack of stability in my updating. However, I feel I am somewhat justified for the recent silence. I was in Birmingham for about a week and half visiting my sister for the birth of her fourth child. Yes, that's right, I said fourth. I don't know how she is able to do life day in and day out with that many children (all under the age of five) but not only does she do it, she does it amazingly. Thatcher David Reed was born February 10th! It was so good to be there for the birth of my sixth niece/nephew and I was able to get a healthy dose of life with children :)

I also got a not so healthy dose of bronchitis from my parents just in time for me to fly back to California. This wasn't quite as easy as just hopping on my flight home though. Because I was flying standby I wasn't able to get an open seat for two days (I needed to get back in order to leave again for Chick-fil-A's annual Seminar with Corey) so I resorted to buying a one way ticket for FAR more than a one way ticket should cost :( I set off on my overpriced American Airlines journey back to Rancho Cucamonga and Corey on Friday morning only to turn around and head to San Antonio on Saturday. Oh, I forgot to mention that I started out at four in the morning throwing up and trying desperately to not get dehydrated by drinking ginger ale, only to throw it back up again (sorry, TMI). As you can imagine, not the greatest of airline traveling experiences. I seem to have a knack for those :) Our trip to San Antonio is an entirely different story...

Let's just say that Corey is not too fond of Southwest's boarding policy as we weren't able to sit next to each other on our first flight and couldn't hear The Office on the second (because of the loud hoodlems behind us). While San Antonio seems like a wonderful city, our one free afternoon was spent in the urgent care for me to get a shot of steroids and a breathing treatment (and the incorrect diagnosis of "environmental allergies", when in reality I couldn't breathe because I had bronchitis), so we weren't really able to see very much of it. The details of Seminar are too extensive to share here but we did enjoy our time there and all that Chick-fil-A provided for us.

Chick-fil-A's Seminar is where the Symbol of Success Winners are presented and honored on stage, which made this year's Seminar extra special because Corey hit Symbol! I've said this before but Symbol is when your store does a 17% increase in sales from the previous year of sales. Let me just brag on my husband for a moment by saying that we were third in the West Coast market for Sales Dollar increase from the previous year and first in the West Coast market for Sales Percentage Increase from the previous year (also, he sent me beautiful tulips and chocolate covered strawberries for V-day while I was in Birmingham...I felt like that needed to be mentioned as well:)! Our store also hit the two million milestone mark! I am very proud of the Chick-fil-A Operator Corey is becoming and looking forward to what is in store for us! Hitting Symbol also means that we get a one year lease to a brand new Ford vehicle (we get the title if we hit it again next year :).
This is what we got...

Seminar reminds me of how generous and honorable the Cathy family is. We owe them so much...Corey and I would never have met if not for WinShape and we would certainly not be where we are without Chick-fil-A. We celebrated Truett's 90th Birthday at Seminar! I honestly could not sing without crying. From this man's vision, hard work and honest living thousands of lives have been touched and changed. I cannot describe how truly grateful I am to him and his family for living their lives truly honoring our Father.

Corey and I are tremendously blessed beyond what we could imagine. It's pretty amazing to look back through your life and see how the Lord pieces the puzzle together and how evident His grace is in all our lives.

ps...I'm on antibiotics now for my sickly self. I just hope I didn't infect a large majority of the Chick-fil-A population while trying to get over my "environmental allergies".

Just a few...

If you know me at all, you know I get annoyed pretty easily. I admit it's not one of my best character traits, but at least I'm aware of it, right? Corey always says that when we pray for patience the Lord doesn't just give us patience, rather, he gives us opportunities to practice patience (pretty profound, I know ;). Anyway, here are several of my pet peeves, things that really get under my skin, things that help me practice patience ;) I know I'm not covering them all, but that's probably for the best. Here are the most prominent ones...

~ Please stop pulling out in front of me when there is absolutely no one behind me! Could you not have waited five more seconds?

~ When you carry on luggage, please put your over sized suit case directly above your seat! Those of us who don't want to get on the plane as soon as possible, only to be sitting in the seat we will be sandwiched into for the next 5 hours, have no where to put our luggage because yours has to be at the front of the plane for a quick escape! We're all getting on and off the plane, what's the rush!?!

~ Stop stealing! I seriously hate when people steal! What makes you think you can have something that's someone else's just because you want it? There is WAY too much stealing going on in the world these days!

~ Get your hands out of her back pockets! Stop the PDA! No one in their right mind wants to watch someone else make out or fondle one another, especially in person. Eww! Ps...just because your in line at Six Flags it is still not a an acceptable form of public behavior!

~ Shut your mouth! Why do people feel like they have the right to say anything they want? If you're going to talk loud enough for others to hear you, especially when there are CHILDREN around, DO NOT curse!


Now that I have had time to fully adjust to life in California, I have found that I have picked up a few more pet peeves. I suppose you could categorize these as "Californian Peeves"...

California Peeve #6 - Don't even think about someone allowing you to back out of a parking space! If someone is trying to back or pull out of parking space, let them! I don't actually know who has the right of way in this situation but come on people, have some sense of common courtesy!

California Peeve #5 - Who told motorcyclists it's okay for them to ride between cars? I'm talking about riding the line that is meant to separate and distinguish lanes. I mean, is it not a sign to anyone else that when a motorcycle passes so closely to actually reach in your open window, it might be a danger? Yes, they're small and able to maneuver quickly, but just because they're wearing helmets doesn't mean they're immune from wrecking! If you're going to ride a motorcycle (which is a terrible idea in the first place, if you want my honest opinion) be responsible (and know that these 2 ton cars the rest of us are driving are pretty hard to stop on a dime)!

California Peeve #4 - Stop wearing tights as though they are skinny jeans. I understand jeggings (for those of you who are skinny enough to make them actually look like tight fitting jeans) but no one wants to see that. Seriously, it outlines things you don't want outlined. It's not flattering, even on the skinniest of people. Tights with a shirt that does not reach beyond the lip of your butt cheeks is not a proper outfit. Put on some pants!

California Peeve #3 - A wave of gratitude might be nice! Let's say I stop and let you back out or I let you pull in front of me, please have enough decency to raise your hand in some attempt to show that you recognize the gesture!

California Peeve #2 - "Tagging", otherwise known as graffiti. Why? Why!?!

California Peeve #1 - This is a big one! My number 1 pet peeve at the moment!
Return your buggies!!! Seriously? Take thirty seconds to walk the five feet to return your shopping cart to it's proper place. Hello people! When you leave a buggy in the middle of a parking lot, you inhibit others from parking there! Let's not forget about the poor employee who has to round up all these neglected buggies! I see shopping carts all over the place. The bus stop. The entrance to our apartment complex. A street corner. The side walk. These are not proper places to leave a buggy!



I realize some of these are petty and stupid, but sometimes, I just wish people would consider others when making their day to day decisions. I know in the grand scheme of life these things really don't matter, that we are all selfish sinners and that we all need a little grace (okay a lot), just don't let me catch you not returning your buggy!