Halloween 2011

Here is a little glimpse into our Halloween from this year. Kyle and I went as pirates :) I wanted to do that when my face was still retarded, but it came back before Halloween luckily.

We went to a Halloween party that Rich and Leesie do every year! So much fun :) Here they are as a Corpse Bride and a terrifying Teletubby.

Here is us in our pirate outfits and John and Ashley in their roman outfits :)

Sweet Lincoln went as a fireman :) He is so cute!

My mom also did a little part for the family. We had Witches fingers, provided by me...

A bubbling cauldron with a wicked potion in it...

Eye ball eggs... Sorry i'm so behind on my posts!

Anniversary

For our anniversary Kyle and I went up to Salt Lake and stayed at the Little America. It was really nice to get away for a while. We went to the Gateway and did a little shopping. We have this store we like called the Mountain Town Olive Oil Co. You can taste test all sorts of oils and balsamic vinegars. Kyle was in heaven. Last time we were up there we got a Strawberry Balsamic and it was so yummy. This time we got a Blueberry Balsamic. Oh man is it so so good! After the Gateway we decided to go to dinner at The Last Samurai. It is not recommended by us. :P The service was bad, food was average and it was pretty pricey. We thought it would be good because we like the one in Sandy, but don't waste your money on the SLC one.

When we got back from Salt Lake on Sunday I decided to make us a nice sit down dinner just the two of us. I made ribs, baked beans, salad, and parmesan herb rolls. Dinner was so yummy. I'll have to put the recipe for the ribs on my food blog.

On Monday we went to the Provo temple to do sealings. It was really nice besides the fact that I almost past out during our turn. So embarrassing! Luckily one of my friends parents were there and her dad's a doctor so he made me sit down before I was a goner. I love the temple, but need to remember to eat before i go next time!

We had a wonderful relaxing anniversary! I love my Kyle with all my heart! These have really been the best 2 years of my life so far. Thank you sweetheart for all asking me to marry you and taking me to the temple 2 years ago. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!!

Oh blog how I have forsaken thee!!!

It has been a while since my last post. I'm not very good at this blog thing. I will say this though, I have a private blog I write one at least once a week. I guess I like writing on it more cuz it is just for me. It helps me get my uncensored thoughts out. The thing I like about this blog is that I put pictures and stories of things we have done. I have a few things to post about and I'll get on that when I have some spare time at work :)

Also, I'll be updating my food blog soon. I'm so behind on posting! Kyle asked me yesterday when i was going to update the food blog. So just for my lovey I'll do it.

ABC

My friend did this on her blog so I thought I'd give it a try :)

A-Age: 21
B-Bed size: Queen
C-Chore you hate: Dishes and cleaning the bathroom
D-Dogs: Kyle and I don't have a dog, but my parents have the family dog that i consider part mine.
E-Essential start to your day: using restroom and brushing my teeth
F-Favorite color: Green and purple
G-Gold or silver: Either or when it come to jewelry. My ring is white gold.
H-Height: 5'4"
I-Instruments you play: Piano (well pretty much only enough to pick out my part in a song)
J-Job Title: Office Manager/Secretary
K-Kids: No kids yet for us
L-Live: Spanish Fork
M-Maiden name: Applegate
N-Nicknames: Chells, Chelly, Michy Moo, Michell ma hell, Chelly Belly, Mitchel, Applegate, Applebum... etc
O-Overnight hospital stays: None
P-Pet peeve: Picking the toppings of your pizza, leaving cupboards open, when the toilet seat is left up or the lid is open.
Q-Quote: "The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends, and the other begins?" ~Edgar Alan Poe
R-Righty or Lefty: Righty
S-Siblings: 1 sister, 2 brothers, 2 bro-in-laws, 3 sis-in-laws
T-Time you wake up: 7:00 am M-F
U-University attended: UVU for a little bit
V-Vegetables you dislike: Can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are some.
W-What makes you run late: Sleeping in late
X-X-rays you've had: a few on my ankle, dental x-rays, and Left wrist
Y-Yummy food: Steak, fresh baked bread, cheese, home grown tomatoes
Z-Zoo animal favorite: Gorillas

Camping... almost there!!

It is time again for the annual Labor Day camp trip! We are headed up to Black Hawk with the Bradford clan! I'm so excited we usually go up there for Fathers Day as well, but it was still closed because of all the snow we had this year. I'll try to take lots of pictures and blog when I get home! For now here are some pics of Black Hawk's recent past :) Enjoy!

Lincoln loved playing with the chalk!

Kyle loved helping Lincoln play with the chalk :)

This is a Horny Toad I caught. I'm not sure what they are really called.

Craig and I in the hammock with Daisey (aka. the devil dog)
Dutch oven cook off :) We sure do love our food!

Fishing with Kyle is one of my favorite things to do :)

Kyle and I on top of "Bradford Mountain" looking out over the overlook with Lucky.

Old Faithful! This is on the way up to "Bradford Mountain"
Some of my best memories are of being at Black Hawk. Here are a few really old pics! This first one is of me and my cousin Alicia riding the horse while grandpa leads us :)

Me and my dad riding while I sleep.

Grandparents with grand kids :)

Left to Right: Me, Grandpa, Julie, Traci, Grandma, Craig, Jeff, Scott, and Brad.

Ankle update w/ pics

I got my cast off yesterday and was given a boot for the next 4 weeks. I've still got a long ways to go, but making progress. I can start putting weight on my foot a little bit at a time. I start physical therapy next week. I got to see my ankle for the first time in 2 weeks! It is a total cankle!! Here are a couple pics from my phone of my poor ankle.

This is my new boot.

One of the Scope spots.

Two ankles!! I haven't seen them in weeks!

Cankle/incision

Incision with another scope spot.

It felt so good to have that cast off! My leg was a hairy monster! It felt good to finally wash it and shave it. I now feel more human again :)

Surgery

I finally had my surgery on the 27th. It wasn't anything big, but it still sucks! I had a lateral ligament reconstruction (I think that's what its called) in my left ankle. Now I've got a big ol' purple cast on my leg! I've got to wear the cast for 2 weeks and then they are putting me in a boot hopefully and not back in a cast! I hate the cast! It itches and is so heavy! I had a week off work and now I'm back :S It was nice to have a break and be taken care of by my sweet family. Here are a couple pictures from the surgery.

Ready to go! Here is the after with my big ol' cast!

One fun thing about casts is that people sign it which is fun :)

On another note my face is slowly starting to get some movement into it!! The day of my surgery I could raise my eyebrow and shut my eye(if I really scrunched it)!! So the end is in site! Thanks to everyone who has visited me and giving me love the past while! It means so much to me!

Lagoon! Kyle's work party

One thing I love about Kyle's job is the summer work party! We get discounted tickets to Lagoon and they throw a big BBQ for everyone while you are there. We had so much fun! We took my sis in law Carlye. It even worked out so that my friends Taylor and Bethany got to go too :) They went on dates with a couple guys Kyle works with :) We all had a blast together!

The only thing that I had a hard time doing was the water part of it. I couldn't go on the slides and had to be really careful not to get water in my eye. But I got some good sun bathing in and went around the lazy river a few times, it was good just to be in the water.

We didn't get to do all the rides we wanted because this storm rolled in for about 30 min and shut all the big rides down. While that was going on we played a lot of games and had the boys win us lots of stuffed animals :)

After Lagoon we all headed down to Texas Road House in Orem for a late night dinner :) It was so yummy, but man I ate way to much that day!!

I would have taken more pictures, but I've been a little camera shy as of late. :) They all pulled a "Michy face" so I didn't look like the only weird one :) Loved hanging out with this group! Thanks for the great time guys!

Things that have become my friends

• Bendy straws - its really hard for me to keep liquid in my mouth right now, so bendy straws help me drink without all the mess



• Natural tears eye drops - keeps my eye moist and feeling good
  


• Nighttime eye lubricant



• Warm wash cloths - helps ease the pain in my face



• Blistex



• Glasses - I can't wear contacts right now, so they save my life



• Volume adjust on my phones - my right ear is really sensitive right now to loud noises



• My blog



• Webmd.com


• Pineapple



• Friendly smiles



• Eye contact

I'm also grateful for my sweet family and friends for all the love and support.

My friend Taylor came over last night and spent the evening with me making homemade pizza and it was dang good :) I'm going to try to get the recipe up on my food blog soon :) Here a couple pics of what we made, don't judge our odd shaped pizzas... ;)

Bell's Palsy and Learning Through Life's Trials

Bells Palsy. Ever heard of it? Cuz I got it! I woke up Saturday morning with it.

According to Webmd.com "Bell's palsy is a paralysis or weakness of the muscles on one side of your face. damage to the facial nerve that controls muscles on one side of the face causes that side of your face to droop. The nerve damage may also affect your sense of taste and how you make tears and saliva. This condition comes on suddenly, often overnight, and usually gets better on its own within a few weeks." For the rest of the article click here.

This can last a few weeks to a few months. Apparently life was going a bit to smoothly and God just had to throw us a few trails to help us grow. "The trials of this life will ultimately lead to joy if we patiently trust in God's plan and discover how to use adversity to grow stronger." ~Larry Richman~ I found that quote here if you would like to read the whole devotional given at BYU-I in 2007. Its good to know God will help you through anything. I know that this doesn't sound like a huge deal to a lot of people and compared to others trials I'd take this instead of a lot of things that could happen. I'm going to keep my head up and try to learn what I need to learn from this experience. I love the Lord and the gospel so much! If any one has any questions about what I believe and the teaching of the LDS faith you can check out http://www.lds.org/, http://www.mormonchannel.org/, or http://www.mormon.org/. Also you can always ask me, I'd be happy to answer questions :)

Here are some pics of me and all the funny faces I make now :P Straight face (you can hardly tell)

closed smile

Teeth smile

Pirate face

Pouty face

Trying to close my eyes

Eventful Day

Yesterday was really eventful.

I got an MRI on my ankle for my surgery

Our Escort broke down in Provo

The old apple tree in the back yard blew down

No big deal, hoping the car wont be to much to fix. Have a feeling this next month will be an expensive one for us. :S Thank heaven for savings! On the bright side Kyle got a promotion at work and a great raise! Oh and today he won a used computer, ya its older, but hey we could use a desktop for home. :)

Fathers Day Weekend

Fathers day weekend was so busy, but so much fun! We got to go to 2 different family reunions. One with Kyle's family up at Palisades and the other was with my family in Nephi Canyon where the old KOA is. We had a blast! We got to try out our new tent we just bought. The weather cooperated with us for most of the time. It rained a little at Palisades, but not much that it stopped us from having fun. We had a bit of trouble with our air mattress. We have 2 twin mattresses, one of which doesn't stay inflated very well. So we turned them sideways and slept on both. We had Kyle's parents pick us up a queen at Walmart in Ephraim on their way up and guess what happened!? It deflated that night too! Cursed defective mattress! The next day we packed up and headed to my families reunion stopping at Walmart to exchange the mattress. Luckily it worked great! It was fun to be at the old KOA again, it has been so long since we've camped there! It warmed up enough for us all to go swimming for a bit! It was fun to be outside with everyone having a blast! That night was awful sleeping conditions, well for me anyway! The mattress did stay up, so that's a plus. But it rained and blew so hard I couldn't hardly sleep all night!!! We'll just say it was a very sleep deprived weekend for me. Despite the sleepless nights we had a wonderful time with both families! I wish we had the chance to go camping with family more, I just love it!

I wish I had used my camera while we were up there, I hate going somewhere and not taking any pics. I would have used my phone, but it died early on. I think I got a pic of a pretty sunset the first night, but that's it.

Memorial Day Weekend!

Memorial Day weekend was really busy for us. We had a ton of fun though! The weekend started off with pedicures with Julie and Carlye. It was so much fun, it was my first time getting one, and it was awesome! I got a cute orange polish. Julie and Carlye both got pink. Then we went to the Cocoa Bean and had some yummy cup cakes! Kyle and I were asked to speak in church so after pedicures I went home and worked on my talk for a long time. Kyle then took me out to Tuchanos to use my birthday certificate. It was so so good :)

We both woke up Sunday feeling terrible, it was so not a good time to be sick. Luckily we made it through our talks alright, but we didn't stay for the rest of church. Kyle and I spope about the Book of Mormon being another testament of Jesus Christ. As much as I whined about speaking, it was really good for me. I learned a lot. It really is true how when you have to teach or speak you really do learn more then anyone.

Memorial Day was nice, I went to the service at the cemetary with mom, dad and Craig. It was nice. The weather even stayed pretty good while we were there. Later that day we had a family picnic at my mom's church and played games. We usually have a family softball game, but the weather just wasn't letting us this year. Here are a few pics from the weekend :)