Fun Weekend!!

Me and Kyle had such a good weekend!! I can't believe that it is already over! I guess it's what they say "Time flies when you're having fun!" Anyway...On Friday we both had to work late so after work we headed down to the Junction for Kyle's friend's birthday party! They were just at Fat Cats doing some bowling and we just chatted for a minute and then decided to just go home and relax...which is the best way to end the day in my mind! :) Then on Saturday we got up early and met our friends to do a session at the temple!! It was so fun to have all of my friends there!! They are all so amazing and such great examples to me!! After the temple they were going to go to lunch but I had to rush off to my annual family candy making party! I love our tradition! Every year my family gets together to make a bunch of candy for families and friends!! We have been doing this ever since I can remember! My grandma started this tradition and we have just kept it going!! I love it!! We make chocolate covered pretzels, fudge, "magic bars," peanut butter kiss cookies (that's my mom's specialty!), toffee, divinity, gingersnap cookies, and other fun things like covering ice cream cones with green colored frosting to look like trees, or dipping plastic spoons in chocolate to put in your hot chocolate to make it extra chocolatey!!!! It is all SO good and I wish I had pictures to show how much candy we made!! I brought a bunch home and I have no idea how we are going to eat it all! If we did we probably would gain a good 20 pounds!! But it was so fun to spend time with my family, they all make me laugh and I love the memories that we make every year at this time!! After cookie and candy making, we had my work Christmas party! We went to the Zucca restaurant and I have to say it was REALLY good! If you haven't been there I recommend it!! I got salmon and Kyle got steak and they were both great!! (It might have helped that I didn't have to pay for it but it was still pretty good!!) After our Christmas party, we went over to my parent's house for a while just to say hi and to see my dog jack!! My mom took him to get his haircut and they made him look like a girl poodle!! haha...it is pretty funny, good thing his hair grows fast!! hahah...and to top of the weekend we have Kyle's mom's side of Christmas today and I can't wait!! It is so fun to be with family!! P.S. I can't believe that Christmas is only 5 days away!! I have a lot of shopping left to do but I am so grateful for this time of year to be with family, continue traditions, and to remember our Savior!!! I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a Merry Christmas!! :)

Oops!!

A little update..this last week we had the opportunity to actually do something besides homework...Woo hoo!! We went out to Olive Garden for dinner and then to see the midnight showing of the Twilight movie and it was a lot of fun!! Kyle's aunt had rented out two theaters for friends and family so we didn't have to wait in any crazy lines!! It was great!! I have to admit that I was trying to stay awake the whole time during the movie but only because I was REALLY tired..but the movie was awesome!! On Friday, due to our lack of sleep we passed out at about 9 o'clock and I had to get up early so I didn't want to stay up late anyway..Saturday I had my usual clinical day..*my last one for the semester might I add) I was in the ER and I got to learn a lot!! After clinicals we just relaxed at home and got a little bored!! Then this happened!!!...





Let me explain...So I have been learning a lot as a nursing student and this weekend I had the opportunity to get a little bit more experience with starting IV's..it wasn't in the hospital or the clinic where I work...it was on Kyle!!! I just have to tell you how good of a sport he was letting me practice on him...He was so nervous to let me do it because as you can see I'm no expert! I just forgot one tiny step (a step to prevent it from bleeding all over the place!! hahah) but he is still alive and no one was seriously injured during the process...so no need to worry!! P.S. I will get better I promise I just need more practice...any other takers?? jk Anyway, we had a great weekend...they just seem to go so fast!! But I'm definitely excited for this week and Thanksgiving!! Eating all the good food, seeing family, Black Friday shopping...I can't wait!! Well, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Day!! :)

Wedding Pictures

So I told you they would be coming...here they are!!! Sorry it's going to be a lot of pictures for this post!!

My new family:

The Ring Ceremony:
My BEAUTIFUL bridesmaids:
The Handsome GROOM and his groomsmen:


My favorite:
My GREAT friends:
My beautiful cake:
I totally got him first, but....
He totally got me back!
The bouquet and garter toss:
Off to Cabo we went!!
It was such a great day and everything turned out perfectly!! :)

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly!!

Today is my last day at America First and I thought that I would do a little reflection on my time here..

I'll start with the Bad/Ugly:

* Upset members! I'm sure all of us have some great stories!! But when I first started at the branch, I had a girl come in that was so upset with how our receipts printed that she threw it back in my face and just walked off! (Needless to say...she no longer comes to the branch!)

*Spitting, smelling, too-good for anyone members: Over the past two plus years that I have worked in a branch, I have come in contact with a lot of members like this! I have had someone spit on me when they were talking, those that put their arms up on the counter and smell something FIERCE, and those that just want to make everyone feel like they are the dumbest person in the world! I will definitely not miss those members!

*"Please cash my check" (when they really mean to deposit) and all of the times when we have had to guess what the member wanted to do!!

*Hearing a Taylor Swift song 10 times a day! I like her music but they do get old!

*Another thing that get's old, "You giving out any samples today?" Classic!

I'm sure I could think of many more great stories but I thought I would end on a good note!!

Here is the good: (They were great!!) :)

*The good ol' days in the drive thru: Watching a man jump out of his pimped out gold car and run from the cops to later be handcuffed, without a shirt, and escorted by police back to his car!! (It was like an episode of COPS!! It was great.) There was the "cowgirl lady" jumping out of her car and dancing with her music blasting!! Our very VERY interesting conversations and doing the Beyonce booty-dance (Jess and Kort!! haha) without anybody hearing or seeing what we were doing! Great times!!!

*The wall of random sayings: "Well the guy's wife, is a girl", "Is there anything I can help you with tomorrow", "I'm going to go wipe", and "Oh you work and Winegar's, (mbr) uh No..it's Wingers!" They always would make my day!

*Friday nights after a REALLY LONG day and we are all delirious that we just start laughing at everything!!

*And last but not least ALL OF THE FRIENDS I HAVE MADE!! We have had great times and I will miss all of you!! Thanks for all being such awesome people to work with!!

Shouldn't I Be Doing Homework??

The answer is YES, but this is way more fun!! So, I have been wanting some Halloween decorations for my house but I'm very picky so I could never find anything that I liked so I thought that I would make some myself! I know they are amateur but you have to start somewhere, right?! Anyway..this is such a simple project! All I did was take two different styles of scrapbook paper and glued them to this plaque and I had some left over letters from the wedding that I just stuck on there with it...You can add ribbon or whatever else onto it! They are so easy and inexpensive! :) Now I just need to work on getting some more!!

Bittersweet...

This past week was a little bittersweet for me! As most of you know, I have been going to school for nursing for the past year and a half and I have never actually had any proper experience SO after passing my LPN exam (Woo woo!!) I decided to see if I could find a job that will give me some experience and maybe even offer a pay raise...I interviewed with a pediatric clinic right here in South Ogden and after meeting with them I thought that it would be a good transition but felt they were looking for someone with a little more experience than I had so I wasn't planning on getting the job! Anyway, a few days later they called me back and actually offered the job to me!! I was excited but at the same time was a little unsure about actually accepting! The job only offered a little more than what I was already making and I felt the experience may not be as beneficial as I wanted! After thinking a lot about it, I accepted the position!! I thought that any experience will be good and benefit me in the long run the hard part is, I'm very sad to leave America First! I have been working there for a little over 3 years and have been at the branch I'm at for over 2! I have made a lot of friends and have become very comfortable there! It's always hard to start a new job and I hope that I will have as great of coworkers as I did at America First! They are all great!! Anyway, I AM excited about this new adventure and hope that I can learn a lot at my new job! (Plus, Kyle said that I could get a new car with getting a new job and I definitely don't want to give that opportunity up!!)

And just a little bit about our fun weekend..Usually I don't do anything on the weekends so I was very excited!!!! On Friday, we were planning on going to dinner and a movie with our good friends Daniel and Terra but Daniel actually got diagnosed with swine flu so Terra just came with us! We were sad that Daniel couldn't make it (hopefully he is feeling better) but glad that we could at least see Terra!! We went to the Ogden Pizzeria and met some other friends to have some delicious pizza! After dinner, we went to Couples Retreat and it was hilarious! If you haven't seen it..I would definitely recommend it!! It made me laugh and made me want to go on a vacation to a place as beautiful as it was on the movie! (It was gorgeous!) Anyway, that was about it for my Friday night (which is usually more than I normally do, isn't that sad?!) because I had to get up early for clinicals on Saturday. But after clinicals on Saturday, I had a really long nap and finally woke up about 8pm and me and Kyle went to Olive Garden! I love going out with my husband and just sitting and talking all night! It's so much fun! On Sunday, we had our family day! We went to lunch for my grandma's birthday and then headed up to Kyle's mom's house for dinner and a game! I love being around family and all-in-all was a great ending to a good weekend! :)

Sneek Peek

Ok so here are some pictures that the family took of the wedding...there are just a few since I haven't been able to get them from the photographer!

This is Kyle's cute family:

There will be more to come (hopefully soon!!) Hope everyone is having a great day!!

Kyle's Birthday!!

Well first off I want to say that I'm sorry that I'm not very good at updating my blog or having pictures, I don't have a digital camera that works right now (I lost my charger and the battery is dead) SO I hope that I will find it and my blog won't be so unlively!!! Anyway, it was Kyle's birthday on Monday and we had such a fun day together! I took the day off because I wanted to do something fun for him and just relax! And let me tell you...IT WAS GREAT!! We woke up and had yummy breakfast! I made omelets that I have been craving forever and they were delicious! After breakfast, I surprised him with a couple's massage at New Image Day Spa! He had never had a massage before so I thought it would be a good birthday present..especially since we have been so busy!! It was so relaxing and much needed! We both were in heaven.. :) After our splendid massages, we went and got ready for the day and headed off to Chili's for lunch! The food there is so good and for Kyle's birthday we got a dessert for free..so of course we got the chocolate molten cake and we had to wait for about an hour so that we could actually move after eating all of that food (the cake itself is a full day of calories)! :) After lunch we just watched a movie and went over to my parents house to help celebrate the fun day! It was a great day!! But on to another subject....

SCHOOL!!! I have been trying to get motivated this semester about studying and doing well in my classes but I just can't seem to do it! (probably because whenever I try and study I find myself on the internet..looking at blogs or much more interesting things..) :) Also, it seems like I always feel so overwhelmed because I have so much to read or other busy work that I don't even have time to study and it definately shows with my test grades...I don't know how people who work full time and have families do it! It's so hard to find time to study even just being married and working 30 hours! My poor husband..he is the greatest for putting up with me when I get stressed or bummed out about school...Thanks babe you're the best! But I hope everything gets better and I can finally feel like I'm understanding everything I need to be a nurse instead of just trying to memorize it for a test! Anyway, on a happier note..I just have to say that I'm so excited for this time of year..football games, fall weather, and start of the holiday season! What a fun time of year and I can't wait for all the memories to me made!!! :)

Mr. and Mrs. Patterson

We are married!! I can't believe that it is all done but it was a perfect day and I couldn't have asked for anything more! I'll have to add some pictures later when I get them back from the photographer but here is a little update of the past few weeks. Well we are back from our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and it was the best vacation ever!! We stayed in a resort that was right off the beach and spent most of our days laying by the pool and playing in the ocean then we would go to the shops and out to dinner at night! It was a beautiful place with bright blue water and nothing but sunshine. (Not to mention it was EXTREMELY hot!!) But, I loved it!! It was definitely hard to come back from all of that but you gotta do what you gotta do right??!! Anyway, we are starting to get settled in to our new place and our new lives together. It's definitely an adjustment...with finding a dishwasher and it falling out the back of Kyle's car to having to sit at the social security office for over an hour before realizing that they couldn't help me change my name, but it's going great!!! All we need now is some furniture for our living room. Right now we have one recliner and Kyle's twin bed to sit on! Pretty fancy huh? Oh the joys of getting married! :) It's great! Being married to is the greatest thing and I can't wait for the future, I know there will be many great memories!! I love Kyle with all my heart and I can't wait to spend eternity with my best friend!!

Good Weekend..

So this weekend was a pretty good one! On Friday we actually found a place to live! I can't believe how stressful it is trying to find a place together!!! We would go look at apartments, houses, condos, you name it and we would never agree on the same thing...so we are so grateful that we actually found something that we both can live with! It is by no means my ideal living situation but that's how you are supposed to start out right! I think we will enjoy it once we get all of our stuff in there! It makes me feel like I'm all grown up!! :) On Saturday I didn't have to work, which is great in and of itself but I got up early and got ready for a great day! Me and Kyle went to look at furniture for our new place and decided that everything was WAY too expensive! So we'll just keep looking on the ol' KSL.com to see if we see any good deals! Then that night was South Ogden Days fireworks so we (actually it was me, Kyle wasn't a big fan!) decided it was a good idea to just walk from my house to the park because I don't live too far away and the parking is usually a nightmare! We were going to go with a few friends but we were just going to meet them there! Once we finally made it to the park they decided they wanted to go by the district building which is only like a half a mile more from the park so we agreed! If only we knew where we were going...we kept going down dead end roads that had a fence so we couldn't get around it! But we finally made it and met our friends and watched the fireworks! Can I just tell you I love the summer! Being able to go and sit outside and go to all the fun stuff is something I look forward to every year! I'm glad that we finally have good weather as well!! Seeing the sunshine and smelling the fresh cut grass...I love it!! Plus, I know the weekend was over but yesterday me, Kyle, my dad, and my grandpa went to Willard Bay to do some fishing! I haven't been fishing for a LONG time so it was really fun (besides the bugs!) Guess what?!?!? I actually caught a fish...in the first 30 minutes we were out there and the only one of the day! I couldn't believe it but it was definately something that I enjoyed! All in all it was a pretty good few days!!

So you think you can dance...dance..dance....dance!!!

I absolutely love this show!!! Not because I have always enjoyed dancing but because every season that it is on I always find myself glued to the TV watching all the amazing dancers (and even the not so good ones are good entertainment!!!) and wishing I could dance and have half the talent that some of those people do!! They just show so much determination and personality!! It's amazing!!! And how awesome would it be to be a professional dancer...it would be a lot of work and long hours but you would be in amazing shape all of the time and most importantly it would be FUN!! Who could ask for anything more?? So...Do I think I can dance??!! Well, I would have to say definately not as good as those on this show so I guess I'll keep watching and keep wishing!! ;)

Phew!....NEXT!!!

I just can't tell you how excited I am that this semester is over!! It seems like it has been the longest 16 weeks of my life! I have learned so much but I was just getting burnt out...especially with one of my classes! This particular class had been really tough for me because I just wasn't understanding the material and I never did well on the exams which was evident by my C grade in the class! Luckily, I had not taken my final yet! So I studied and studied and studied and finally the day had come! I had to pass my final to pass the class..or else, I don't know what would happen! (Would I get kicked out of the program? Or would my education just be put on hold for another year till they taught this class again? All I knew was that I didn't want EITHER!!) Anyway...I was SO nervous and got exactly what I expected, another failed exam! I was so devastated! I felt like I just couldn't grasp the information and I was frustrated! I was crossing my fingers that I did enough to actually pass...and today I found out that I DID!!! (PHEW!!) I passed the class and I don't have to worry about what would happen if I didn't! I am extremely happy! So now that school is over, on to my next challenge...wedding planning! I am excited to actually start planning my wedding but I'm still stuck on deciding what my colors should be...all I know right now is that I want orange but that's where it ends! I'm sure I'll come up with something but if anyone has any ideas...please let me know! :) Anyway...I can't wait till everything starts coming together and the day is actually here! 94 days and counting... :)

Best Surprise EVER!!

So...This last weekend has been one that I will never forget! It was a pretty normal weekend until Saturday rolled around! Me and Kyle were supposed to go camping with his family for Easter weekend but I had to work Saturday so we planning to go as soon as I got off. I was so excited to go..I hadn't been camping for a really long time. Well, Saturday turned out to be not so good weather and Kyle told me that his family was planning on coming home that night! Bummer! But then Kyle had this great idea that he would make it up to me by going to Salt Lake for dinner! I was completely content with that idea! I'll take P.F. Chang's any day!! So he came to my house and said that we needed to leave around 6:00 so we could make our reservations at 7:00! Okay I can do that!! So we were casually sitting at the table talking with my parents when all of a sudden my door bell rang! (Ding Dong) "That's our ride," Kyle said! WHAT!?!?!? I was so confused...I get my shoes on and go outside and there it is! A white limo! (Okay...What's going on!?) All I could think was that something was going to happen tonight and I had a good idea of what it was! :) But once we got into the limo Kyle acted so chill that I totally blew off the idea that something was going to happen tonight! I didn't want to get my hopes up! So we went to dinner and the food was AMAZING!! I love P.F. Chang's! Once we were stuffed we got the check and they brought us out or fortune cookies! The waitress said that it was Chinese tradition to take the one that was facing you! (I had never heard that before but I went with it)...I opened mine that said "There is something bright in your future." Kyle opened his that said "There is a life changing event just ahead." Okay, nothing new...I have heard those before so I didnt think anything of it! We left the restaurant and made our way home! Kyle had this great plan to tickle my back on the way home but the limo just didn't make that too comfortable for me! So I turned around and started talking about his Easter present (that I was so proud of by the way...it was nothing fancy but I was surprised at how creative I could be! haha) and I told him that I would give it to him that night since I wouldn't see him till later the next day! He said that he had an Easter present for me too but that he actually had it with him! I totally thought he was just going to be funny and grab some candy from the limo and give that to me! But he told me to close my eyes and put out my hand! Once I opened my eyes...He was down on his knee (yes..in the limo!!) and had this ring in his hand...WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Then he asked "Will you marry me?" Of course I said YES!!!!! I was so confused and shocked at the same time! I can't believe that I'm going to get married! Crazy but SO exciting!!!!! I had no idea that he had even talked to my dad or had even gotten a ring yet! He actually had this whole thing planned for about a month now! I was totally out of the loop on that one! But I can't wait until we are married! It will be so much fun! We are thinking of getting married either the end of July or first of August! That means I have a lot of planning to do and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed but I have great family and friends that will help me and make it a day I will remember forever!! That had to be the BEST SURPRISE EVER!!! Thanks babe! I love you!

I CAN SEE THE END....FINALLY!!

It is almost coming to the end of my first year of nursing school and I couldn't be happier!! I know I still have a year left to complete but it seems like I'm headed on the downslope now..well..hopefully!! I had a huge test this weekend that I had to pass to continue my education in this program! Let me tell you...I have never been so nervous in my life!! I couldn't sleep the night before because all I could think about was if I didn't pass...could I take it again?! or would I just fail out of the program! :( I didn't want that so I studied the best that I could and hoped for the best!! My test was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning and I didn't leave the school until about 12:30....but.......I PASSED!!! (Barely, but I don't care...I PASSED!!) WOO HOO!!! I have never been so relieved...that means I can register to take my LPN boards and finally get on the ball to get a job that I can have when I graduate!!! I'm so excited and I can't believe that I have already completed a full year of nursing school!! But I'm most excited for the 3 month break I have starting May 1st...Summer and fun, here I come!!

Rascal Flatts Concert!!!!

On Thursday night my sweet boyfriend took me to the Rascal Flatts concert!! It was a BLAST!!! We went down to SLC early to eat dinner at the Olive Garden (It was DELICIOUS!) and then we walked over to the concert...I was so excited to have Kyle with me because he had never been to a single concert EVER!! He had a lot of fun!!! Anyway, I love going to concerts!! They are always a good time! With all the crazy people getting crunk and being able to sing as loud as you can because no one can hear you..it is always well worth it!! Speaking of people getting crunk, it seems like every concert I go to I always sit by people who are just WASTED!! There was a couple in front of us that were dancing all over the place and the guy was acting like he was at the Motley Crue concert!! He even pulled out his lighter during one of the songs! It was very entertaining! :) All-in-all it was a VERY fun night and the best Valentine's Day present ever!! Thanks babe!! :)








Jessica Simpson was the opener for Rascal Flatts and she did a good job and I actually liked a lot of her songs! She was a little weird when she did her little act between songs but it was a great concert!! :)

So...I never win anything..EVER!! We were standing in line to spin those wheels that the country stations have at every concert and there were about 10 people in front of us and they were not having any luck with winning, so once I got up there my hopes were pretty low and I just put a nice spin on the wheel, then......BOOM! I WON A SNOW SCRAPER!!! haha..pretty lame prize but I was still excited! Then it was Kyle's turn and he spun it pretty hard and BOOM!! HE WON A SHIRT!! We felt pretty lucky (too bad it wasn't back stage passes to the concert, that would be even better!!! Oh well, we'll take it!!)

My Puppy JACK

I wanted to show some pictures of my puppy Jack! He just barely got a haircut! I miss his big fluffy fur!! But he is still cute! Here is the before and after pictures!!

Let's get it started!!

I have decided that since I have this blog that I should probably start doing something with it!! :) I'm still pretty new to this but I'll just kind of give an update of what I have been doing for the past few months! I'm still going to school and working towards becoming a nurse! I definately can't wait until I can be done with school and just work full time, but its been a very good experience! I'm still dating my boyfriend Kyle and having fun spending time with him! We just got back from a trip to California! It was so much fun! We went to Knott's Berry Farm and I laughed the whole day watching Kyle on the roller coasters! (He is afraid of heights but the funniest ride was a wooden roller coaster because he was SO afraid it was going to break! It was hilarious!) We also spent some time shopping, walking around the city, and eating really good food! (Cheesecake Factory was my favorite!) Other than that I have just been spending a lot of time with my family and friends!! My good friend Terra just got married and it was so exciting seeing her go through that experience! She seems SO happy and I'm so happy for her!! Anyway...I will try and be better about my posts in the future and hopefully I can show everyone a little bit more about me and my life!! :)


Here are some pictures of California: