Lately

Here's what I've been up to while my husband works 16 hour days (I'm a widow in the summer):

Thrifting!  I love finding great deals.  This was an especially exciting one.  Vintage Little House on the Prairie books.  These were some of my favorites as a child.  My mom would read them to me every night:)

Scrapbooking 18 years of Alex's life!! It was literally a "sweatshop" because we worked from morning till 10 at night in Erins 80 degree house!

This is just a goodie that we scrapped of Christin and Dallen's wedding:)

Brielle and I spent an evening together at the D.I, making spaghetti together, and reading books together for hours.  I'm going to miss this girl when she moves :(

 





I spent an entire afternoon babysitting Luke.  He and I  love playing together.  He calls me Bec and is getting quite sassy :)

An evening in SLC with Brynne, Clark, J.D, Alex and their dates.... Yes... I had to go alone because my husband was working.  However, being the 7th wheel wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Cleaning my house!!! This little break from school has enabled me to get SOOOO much done around the house that has been needed for a while. Also, I've been studying to take my CNA state boards before I start my summer semester in June.  I've already taken the written and I take the clinical next week!








Alex taught me all about instagram on my trip to Aberdeen, and I've loved it!  There is no other reason that I would take pictures of regular day to day activities, but I'm so glad that I do!  It's a great way to document what I've been up to!

A Trip to Aberdeen

Last Friday, I drove up to Idaho with Angie and her kids to watch Alex in Les Mis.  He was cast as Marius and did AMAZING.  His voice sounded great and he did an incredible job with the role.  It was, however, really sad to go to the last musical with a Ure.  My parents and extended family have gone through years and years of watching us in Aberdeen High School Musicals and it's sad to see it end. 




Les Mis was a great way to end it though.  The music and the storyline are so powerful.  We were quite impressed that Aberdeen High School was able to pull off such a big musical so well.  It was quite amazing.  It was fun to see family come and support Big Al for one last time!

Also, while in Idaho, I took Alex's senior pictures.  My in-laws bought Dix and I a great camera for Christmas, and my mom asked me if I would just take Alex's pictures to save them some money (photographers are getting quite expensive these days).  I of course told her yes, but I was TERRIFIED.  I'm not really known much for being artistic, and Alex is pretty picky.  I was super worried that he would hate them and be really disappointed that my parents didn't just put out the money for a professional, but I studied up on my camera and on fun ideas and I was really pleased with the results.  I think it helps that my brother is so cute though.  He was a good model:)

After my big success with the senior pictures, Beth asked me to take her twin's 1 year old pictures.  This was not quite as easy as my first shoot.  Alex didn't need to be entertained in order to look happy:)  I did, however, get some cute pictures of the girls.  They are getting so big and they are so fun.  They couldn't be more different from each other in personality either.  The top picture is Haven and the one below is Emery.

And as a final surprise, you get to see my biggest challenge of the week.  Alex asked me to cut his long hair from the play into a mullet for a day before he cut off the rest.  I've never cut hair before and he wouldn't let me use the clippers because he didn't want a buzz, so I used scissors on the whole thing.  Once again, I was quite impressed with myself.  So here's some classy pictures to remember my incredible skills by:) You're welcome! 

Our Europe Trip

What an AMAZING trip!  We were there for just under three weeks and we had a blast. 

We started off in Paris and did Versailles on the first day.  It was incredible and very over the top.

We obviously ate gelato almost every day... This was our favorite place because they would form the gelato into a flower every time. 

Our hotel was a five minute walk from the Eiffel Tower so we went almost every night to see it sparkle.  It was quite beautiful. 

I can't take credit for most of these amazing pictures.  Dix had the camera 90% of the time and I have been very pleased with the results. 

This is us right at the end of our 5 hours at the Louve Museum.  We both loved it so much and we were sad to leave it.  

This is the amazing interior of Notre Dame.  This was one of my favorite buildings we toured in the whole trip.  At almost 900 years old, this amazing building has super cool architecture and a great history. 

The outside view of Notre Dame is just as great as the inside.  Gothic is such a unique style because everything is so detailed. 

My cute husband standing at "Point Zero" which is the place from which all other distances in France are measured. 

We climbed 800 steps (YES my legs were shaking uncontrollably) and then took an elevator to the top for an amazing view.  

This was the view from right as we stepped out of the metro station. A 1900 year old building still standing! 

The inside of the Colloseum was so cool because we kept thinking that the historical hunger games were there :)

It was AMAZING to have 3 weeks of my husband all to myself.  We haven't done something "just us" since our honeymoon and we were both in heaven.  No cell phones or other distractions and just being together.  I could do that for the rest of my life. 

The sculptures in the Vatican Museum were so funny because you could tell the age by their male genitals.  An early pope completely castrated all the sculptures and a later pope just covered them up with fig leaves... Dix and I found it quite entertaining.  

The work of an early Pope

This is us outside of St. Peters Basilica which was the most amazing church we saw.  Our time spent in Vatican City and seeing the Sistine Chapel ceiling left me in awe of the grandeur of the Catholic church.  

This "boxer" statue was one of the highlights of our trip because Dix"fake punched" it in the museum and set off a huge loud alarm.  It was a very classy moment when everyone saw the American tourists getting in trouble for fake punching classic art. 

Before Venice was Florence where we ate great food and saw Michelangelo's David.  Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures in the museums there.

Venice is just as beautiful as it looks.  It was incredibly romantic.  

London was super fun and a great way to end our trip.  It was here that I saw Davinci's "Madonna of the Rocks", the original and handwritten Jane Eyre, the crown jewels, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and much much more.

It was a great city and it was also here that we had the best hot chocolate we have ever tasted.  

My cute husband.  I love him. 

A great highlight of our London trip was touring the Harry Potter museum/filming studio.  We were both in "nerd mode" big time.  We loved it:)

Dix gave me an extra treat by taking me to Les Miserables.  This was the first time I've ever seen a professional show and it was incredible.  I also loved watching Les Mis right after being in France because I appreciated and understood the storyline better.  

The day before we left London we met up with Brawn (with the permission of his mission president).  We had a great time going to lunch with him and his companion.  He seemed to be doing great and we were very proud of him.







Overall, our trip was great and super educational (I was very much in my element).  I learned more in 3 weeks than I could have in 3 years.  It was amazing for a million different reasons and I am so grateful that we were lucky enough to do it. 

An Award and a Goodbye

Last week, my friend BRYNNE nominated me for this award:


Nice of her right? I thought so... Anyhow, I feel bad because it's taken me a while to get around to doing anything about it (in my defense, today is my last day of finals so I've been SUPER BUSY).

But here are the rules of the award:

Each Nominee Should:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award
2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award
3. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link to their site
4. Share seven completely random facts about yourself
5. Include this set of rules
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination

Like Brynne, I won't nominate 15 people. However, I will nominate 3.

*my sister ANGIE

*my sister CHRISTIN

*my dear friend/cousin MACEY

And here is the link to Brynne's blog. It's really cute. Check it out HERE.

And here are my 7 completely random facts about myself:

1. I am a human development major at BYU and I only have 1 full semester and 1 block of classes left before I graduate!

2. I HATE HATE HATE doing laundry. If I were rich, I would hire someone to do it for me. I can do any other household chore willingly but laundry....ugh... it makes me sick.

3. Ever since my family vacation to DISNEYLAND in March, I listen to a disney music station on pandora almost every day. Nothing brightens up your day quite like listening to 'lets get down to business' from Mulan.

4. I have a little addiction to thrift store shopping. If I had more time, I would do it everyday. I love rooting through a pile of junk and finding a gem (especially when the gem is a really really good book).

5. I've never had sushi... ok lie. I ate a TINY bite once but I gagged on the seaweed wrap and so I have no idea what the middle would even taste like.

6. I love babies. I always have. Whenever I go into a restaurant, or any public place for that matter, I know within 20 seconds where all the babies are in the room, what they look like, and approximately how old they are. I love just watching them being cute.

7. After taking two finals today and finishing up around 10:00 p.m tonight, I'm coming home to a perfect husband, packing for EUROPE, and heading out tomorrow! I am so excited! Dix and I have been saving for this since we first got married (we actually had a little change jar our first year of marriage that said 'Europe Trip' on it) and we are so excited for a much needed break.

Well, that's it for me! I'll be back in three weeks with tons of pictures and stories about our international adventure. We're sorry for the weddings, graduations, and performances we'll be missing in the meantime. We really will be thinking of you all.

Cheerio! (that's British for goodbye)