Long Time, No Blog

Ok, So I am really terrible at updating our blog, but I finally got around to it today. There are a few new posts below!

SYTYCD

We had a Girl's Night Out last Saturday! We had dinner at Red Robin and then went to the So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 concert at the E-Center. I had so much fun with all the girls. Thanks for the invite!

Some of the group

(Traci, Kelli, Kirsten, Amy, and Kami)




Amy, Kami, and Kathryn

Rollin' With The Stones

Aaron has been dealing with kidney stones for over a year now, but at the end of October the pain got really bad. So after a week (at least!) of trying to convince him to go to the doctor, he finally did. We did a CT scan and he had 3 kidney stones! All on his left side! No wonder he was in so much pain! He ended up having lithotripsy on November 2nd to get rid of the 2 big ones! Needless to say, he is feeling much better!

Right after surgery -- Happy to have it over with!

One of the areas they did lithotripsy. The doctor told me

they did about 3,000 shocks to each area!

BBQ with Friends

At the end of September, after Aaron had been home a couple of weeks, we had some of our friends over for a BBQ. We enjoyed good food and good company! Thanks for coming guys! We missed Tyson's wife, Brittany, and their baby, Maliah, and hope they can come next time!

Tyson and Aaron

Chris & Kartier

Chris taking Kartier for a ride on Aaron's bike

Tyson going for a spin. (Sorry Brittany -- couldn't keep him away!)

Aaron & Kirsten

The Crew

(Tyson, Kartier, Chris, Kirsten, Aaron)

Home Owners!

We are officially home owners! We closed on our house July 30th and moved in July 31st! It has been great living in an actual house instead of an apartment! It has been a little rough getting used to the commute -- well, I should say it's been rough getting up an hour earlier for work! But I really don't mind the drive, and it will be a lot nicer once the construction is finished. We still have a lot of unpacking to do, hanging things up on the walls, etc., but it will get done! We are so thankful for helpful and willing families! Between wiring the house (low voltage and can lights), meetings & negotiations with the owners, advice, woodwork, moving, cleaning the apartment, small projects, and unpacking/organizing/cleaning the new house, our families have been there at a moments notice to help us along the way -- we are so grateful for everything they have done! Our computer is still down, so no pictures yet, but they will be coming.....eventually!

On another note, the APX summer is winding down and will end August 31st, so only 3 more weeks until Aaron will be home, and I could not be more excited! I am counting down!

Update!

Well, our computer is still not fixed, so I am posting while I'm at work! There isn't anything too exciting going on for us this summer! Aaron is still in Texas -- and will be until the beginning of September :( He came home for a few days in June for his brother, Collin's, mission farewell. It was SO good to have him home. While he was home we were able to go visit his dad and stepmom in Rock Springs on Father's Day. I will hopefully be able to go out to Texas for a few days this month!

As for the house situation, our estimated closing date is around August 10th, but they said that is plus or minus a few days. Things are progressing and I am getting pretty excited -- mostly to be done with the whole house-building experience. It is definitely not a fun thing to go through. I went out to see how things were going yesterday and it looks like the next step will be painting. They have all the stucco up on the exterior, but it has not been painted yet. I have started packing up our things in our apartment and I have decided we have a lot of junk! So I will be making a trip to the DI with a bunch of stuff before the move!

Death of Our Computer

Last week our computer decided that it'd had enough......so it died. Sad, I know. So there will be no pictures for a while. As far as"news" goes, there's nothing new. Our house is kind of at a stand still. They put the wrong trusses up so we are waiting for those to be fixed. Yet even though they knew they were wrong and had to be changed out, they shingled the entire roof. Does that make any sense!!?? Oh well, it's their money they are wasting since they will have to be torn off now. I guess they are just bored and wanted more work!

It has now been a month that Aaron has been in Texas. It's been really hard having him gone. He is so busy that we hardly get to talk. I am waiting for our trusses to be fixed on our house before I plan a trip to go visit. I just know that if I plan a trip they will be ready for us to do "our stuff" at the same time. Hopefully they get fixed soon! I am a lonely girl!

Also, Last Saturday I attended a temple session with Aaron's family because his little brother, Collin, was recieving his endowment. It was a great experience and I am so glad I was able to go. Collin leaves June 24th for the MTC. He will be serving in the Chile, Concepcion mission. We are excited for Collin and know he will be a great missionary!

Quarter Of A Century!

I turned 25 on April 29th! It was kind of lame day because I was all by myself. I didn't have to work and Aaron is in Texas. Luckily, I have awesome in-laws! The Sunday before my birthday they had a little party for me with dinner and gifts! It was so nice of them! And the night of my birthday I went to dinner at Olive Garden (yum!) with Aaron's sister, Alyssa, and Krista (Aaron's brother Damien's girlfriend). Thanks for everything Grant Family! Aaron also had flowers delivered to me -- Gerber daisies -- one of my favorites! They were so pretty! My parents came up that next weekend to help with some wiring on the house and they surprised me with a sewing machine! Now I need to start some projects to keep me busy while Aaron is gone!

Two Is Better Than One

April 24th was a sad day at the Zmerzlikar's. Aaron left that morning for Amarillo, Texas, where he will be managing an office of alarm technicians for the summer. I wish I could have gone with him, but didn't want to lose the job I have now. I have realized that two is definitely better than one -- It is getting to be pretty lonesome all by myself! You would think I'd be used to it by now (he has been gone every summer since we started dating, minus last summer when he was here for half of it), but I think it gets worse every year! Hopefully we will be able to visit each other a few times over the next 4 months!

We Got Framed! (4/23/2009)

We went back out to check on the progress of our house on Thursday. We figured they would have probably started framing a few days before and to our surprise the framing was pretty much finished! Just a few more trusses to put up. It's exciting! It finally is beginning to look like a house and not just a big hole in the ground.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Concrete is Poured! (4/19/2009)

We went out to check on the house on April 19th and found that the basement floor and garage floor had been poured. Yay! Framing is next!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dirt Around the Walls (4/12/2009)

Make a Smilebox postcard

From A Pile of Dirt to a Home (almost)!

Before the wedding, Aaron and I began the process of finding a home to purchase. We looked at a few options before choosing to build. With the area and the contractor we chose, we felt that we could get more house for less money -- always a good thing! And I am excited to be getting out of the city and into a smaller town. Things are coming along really well so far -- and quite quickly too! We will hopefully be in our new house by August!


This is the "Before" picture of our lot. Digging began March 24th!

These were taken on March 29th. We have a basement, kind of!

Today (April 5th) I drove out between conference sessions to see the progress. I wasn't expecting too much since it had been snowing all week, but to my surprise, this is what I found:

Not bad for less than 2 weeks of work! Maybe we will be in sooner than we thought! We are really excited to have our own place! I am really tired of life in an apartment: limited space, no yard, noisy neighbors, hauling groceries up a flight of stairs, etc!

Wedding Day Photos!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Called To Serve!

Aaron's brother, Collin, received his mission call on April 2, 2009. He has been called to serve in the Chile Concepcion Mission and will enter the MTC on June 24, 2009. We are excited for Collin and wish him the best of luck!

Tagged By Lisa: 6th Folder, 6th Picture

This is from July of last year. I went on a hiking/camping trip with Aaron's family in the high Uintahs. We hiked in about 8 miles (if I remember right) and camped for 3 nights. Luckily we had horses to pack all of our stuff and us! This picture is of the trail and Aaron's younger sisters, Janessa (in the front) and Alyssa (in the back) -- oh, and part of my face.

I tag:

Jen Spencer
Camie Taylor
Ashley Jackson
Malinda Sanders
Sarah Jimenez

The Honeymoon: San Diego, CA

For our first night as husband and wife, Aaron took me to The Castle Creek Inn. It is a themed bed and breakfast. Our room was "The Edinburgh." It was a Scottish-themed room -- complete with a plaid loveseat and a Scottish knight statue! Then it was on to sunny San Diego!

We went to Sea World the first day we were there. We were watching the dolphins swim around and they came by and splashed us. Aaron thought it was pretty disgusting that he had dolphin water all over his clothes!

The shows at Sea World are pretty amazing! We just kept thinking "How do you train killer whales and dolphins to do these things?!"

We spent one evening at the San Diego Temple. It is a beautiful temple. There is one room in the temple that you are able to see the Angel Moroni from inside. I am so thankful we had the opportunity to attend a session while we were there.

On our last day in San Diego, we decided to go whale watching. We saw California Sea Lions, Gray Whales, and tons of dolphins! The tour boat goes out ten miles off the coast -- just to the point that you can't see any land, which was kind of a weird feeling! I got sea sick on the way out. They told us if we get sick to keep our focus on land. So how are we supposed to do that if there is no land in sight?! Once the boat stopped, I was fine -- and the way back was even better. No sea sickness for me!


California Sea Lions

A Gray Whale. I promise! The boat isn't allowed to get within 100 yards of the whales, so basically all you get to see is the water they spray with their blow holes, and once in a while their backs. Enlarge the picture and you'll be able to see the back of one of the whales we saw.

The best part of the whale watching trip was the dolphins. We came upon a mega pod, which is 2,000-3,000 dolphins. I was a pretty awesome thing to see! They would swim and jump right next to our boat. I could have watched that all day.


In the picture below, all the little black dot things are dolphins.

I had a great time spending a whole week with Aaron on vacation. We both like to travel to new places. Hopefully this is only the beginning of many fun vacations together!

Zmerzlikar: Established February 21, 2009

I've been wanting to create a blog for a while now, but decided to wait until Aaron and I were married. So now that it has been two weeks and things have calmed down a bit, here I am. I have a lot to figure out on this thing, so my first few posts might look a little scary!

Aaron and I were married February 21, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple. I was worried it was going to be a cold and wintery day, but to my surprise it was the most beautiful day (in my opinion) that we've had in months! I am so happy to finally be married to my best friend -- it was the best day ever! Thank you to everyone who came to the breakfast, sealing, or reception. We appreciate the love and support that we have received from all of our family and friends.

I don't have the pictures from the actual wedding day yet, but I will add a few that we had done by Sara Boulter in November. When I get the wedding day pictures I will post those.