The Pollards

January update

2012-01-28T16:09:00.006-07:00

I have officially been scolded for not updating my blog by my 10 year old neice. (Things have just been so BUSY!) So, Kaitlyn Marie, this one is for you. It actually is only a short list of events that have taken place in January.

This is us. Jason and Me.

* January really has been busy and crazy from the start. On New Years Eve night, Jason's beloved 1985 Toyota truck gave up the ghost. What a great way to start off the new year! We began the year searching for another vehicle, and we were quickly reminded just how much we hate car shopping. Luckily, we found another truck in only a few short weeks! Yipee...and thank goodness!

* We made new years resolutions with each other. Let's just say that I am not off to a good start, but Jason is (and always is) the one who's on top of things. He has been getting his goals done! P.S. One of my goals is to read at least one new book a month. Any suggestions?

* Jason started another semester in school. Oh joy.

* We have had a few encounters with the Doctor already this year. Jason sprained his foot really bad last week at church ball. It really looked broken. The doctor said a few of his tendens are also "strained." Whatever that means. A week later, his foot is still swollen and looks lovely.

* Earlier this month, we made a quick trip down south to see some family. We had a wonderful meal with some of my siblings and their kids. We even got a fashion show from the girlies in their dress-ups. So cute and too much fun!

So there's the update and that is that.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T20:24:00.003-07:00

This year marks our third Christmas together. Wow. Time sure flies! Jason and I enjoyed the holiday with family and friends here in the valley. It was nice to visit and see our family members. We really are so blessed. Now that the holidays are coming to an end, we wish we had a little more time to spend with them.

Due to tradition, we spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Halls. It was great food and company. The nativity reinactment was so cute to watch and was a good reminder of what Christmas is all about. Here are just a few pictures from the night.

Jason and I hurried home after the Christmas Eve Party to go to bed. Santa doesn't come to kids who are awake, you know! Below are the lovely morning shots of us opening our gifts that Santa left for us.

Jason got a new watch, belt (which was greatly needed!), and books. Santa left me a lot of baking goods, which was just what I asked for. And, yes. I tried them out a few minutes after opening them at 6:00 am. So exciting! But the best gift of all this year was a rocking chair that Jason made for me. So sweet. Isn't he the best?

It was a great Christmas that flew by. Jason and I are still wondering how the Christmas season went so fast this year.

Christmas in Burley

2011-12-19T14:37:00.004-07:00

This weekend we celebrated Christmas with the fam in Burley. Luckily, we also got to celebrate Jordan's birthday while we were there too! (Eighteen!! Can you believe it?!) We played all weekend long with Jordan, Jayme, and Mom & Dad P. So fun! Thanks for entertaining us! Seriously, they are the best.

Thanks for letting us come stay! I wish we could have stayed longer.

Christmas lights

2011-12-11T11:01:00.005-07:00

It was a special weekend for us. We were with friends and family at Temple Square. It was BEAUTIFUL! Ralph and Teresa took us all out to eat in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Yummy! And, they showed us around Temple Square. The lights are always so pretty and it is especially neat to be there around Christmas time.

The view from the JSMB. Pretty!

We spent the night in Bountiful and played games into the wee hours of the morning. It truely was a perfect weekend to be with family and friends and enjoy their company. Thank you to the Christensens for a great time!

a happy thanksgiving

2011-12-02T17:07:00.003-07:00

Jason and I had a great Thanksgiving. Lots of food. Great people. What could be better? Here are a few highlights of the weekend.
*Thanksgiving day was spent in Lewiston. We ate at the 2nd ward church house with all the Halls. It gets a little crowded in one house with all of us. I made a pie (me and Marie Calendar that is).

*It's just tradition that a game of basketball will break out. Jason played a few games of lighting with the cousins. I tried to play with them, but the games not too fun when you're not so good.

*Later that day, Jason and the boys did a little demolition on the house. They removed the brick around a wood stove in the house. Mom made the mistake of saying that she wanted this done. And everyone went to work that minute. It was little noisy, but they had it done in no time. I wasn't any help at all. I just watched.

Jason had to work on Black Friday and so did I. We traveled up to Burley right after we got off on Friday. It was so, so nice to be there with our family. Here are the happenings of that weekend.

*We had our Thanksgiving feast on Saturday afternoon. I made rolls. Some of them came from the store though. I'm not skilled enough to do a big batch of rolls quite yet.

*Jason and I played games. It is nice to play cards and board games with more than two people, like Jason and I do all the time. We visited, laughed, and tried to get caught up on the happenings in everyone's lives. Seriously. We don't get up there as often as we would like.

* Jason and Bryan did a little work out in the yard on Saturday, with Michael watching from the window and making sure things were done correctly. I wish I had a picture of it all. Quite funny to watch.

(Speaking of pictures...I didn't get any pictures from our weekend in Burley. I was so mad at myself for my forgetfulness! I always forget to take pictures up there because there is always so much going on. This a picture from a while ago with our family - minus some additions. It will have to do.)
Unfortunately, we had a sad ending to our Thanksgiving weekend. I got sick on Saturday night, and I'm still fighting off this lingering cold. We left quite happy though because we got to see our family. The best part of Thanksgiving is just being with the people you love.

HALLoween = fun times

2011-11-02T18:33:00.007-06:00

My sister, Jenn, is super creative and always is doing something fun. No lie. She came up to visit Cache Valley with her cute little family last weekend and had a halloween party with the other grandchildren. They played fun games, went to a haunted corn maze, watch a movie, etc. Jason and I kinda crashed the party for a little bit. (Thanks for not kicking us out!)

One of the games was a competition between two people to see who could eat an entire donut without using their hands. Like this....Umm.....I lost bad, but really funny to watch.

Thanks guys for a fun HALLoween party! I am already looking forward to bobbing for apples next year.

P.S. Jennah Grace didn't particularly like to be around me during her stay, but she sure thought Jason was really awesome. She played with Jason and giggled at him. I was a little bummed that I wasn't a favorite this go around, but itwas REALLY cute to see her play with her uncle. Simply darling.

halloween parties

2011-10-23T10:26:00.003-06:00

Jason and I had a few Halloween parties this weekend. We had to rack our brains to come up with some costumes. We're not that creative. Seriously.

Some of Jason's coworkers had a party, and we went as Islanders. This was the best that we could do for that costume.Then we had a ward party, which was super fun. We went as a mobster from the 1920s and a flapper. Here's what we came up for that. Not too bad. Now we just need to come up with another costume for Halloween day. One more to go.

spudnuts at the Pollards

2011-10-20T09:04:00.004-06:00

Definition. Spudnuts = yummy doughnuts made with a little bit of potato

Misson complete. I sucessfully made spudnuts by myself for the first time. Yumm! They weren't as good as Mom's (what is, really?), but I will still call this a success. It was a L-O-N-G baking day and I don't want to even think about making more until next year. It wore me right out! I figure the whole process took almost 7 hours. Good grief! Thank goodness Jason was there to help me. Didn't they turn out looking good??

Although it was an exhausting day, I sure enjoy this tradition. Thanks to everyone who helped us eat them up!

a wedding

2011-10-11T20:52:00.004-06:00

We had another wedding in the Pollard family and everyone was so excited to see Jason's sister get married. It was such a beautiful ceremony and we were happy to be part of their day. Congrats to both of them! Here are a few pictures of the wedding.

This is a picture of Jason, me, and our sisters waiting outside the temple. It was so cold, but it was a wonderful day.The bride and groom. So cute!Jason with the bride at the reception. We sure love that girl to pieces, and Jason was particularly excited and happy for his little sister.The cake. Our cousins made this gorgeous cake. Seriously, it was beautiful. Just wanted to share and show off their work.

And some other random pictures of the wedding.

What a wonderful day to be part of! Congratulations to Colton and Jenna!

special saturday night

2011-09-25T09:35:00.003-06:00

"If we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots all around us." --President Uchtdorf
I love this quote. The general Relief Society conference was so good on Saturday night. Just thought I would share.

I can't wait for 181 Semiannual general conference next weekend.

another birthday

2011-09-18T18:28:00.003-06:00

This cute guy turned 24 on Sunday. We celebrated all weekend long and enjoyed every minute. I wish it had lasted longer.

two

2011-09-11T09:42:00.005-06:00

I can't believe we are celebrating our two year anniversary. It really does not seem that long ago. Time sure flies. Our wedding was perfect and I'm so grateful to be married to my best friend.

caribou county

2011-07-31T23:00:00.004-06:00

This is where the A.J. Hall family reunion was held this year. Mom had been planning this reunion since last year and it definately was the best yet. We had so much fun being together and it was really nice to get away from regular life for a while. The entire family stayed in this house and it was beautiful. It is actually a bed and breakfast, but we got the house to ourselves for few days. Seriously, it was so cute. We all played. Period. We played basketball, volleyball, pool, and cards. It seemed like the grandkids were always racing somewhere or playing pretend games with each other. I think that they had a fun time with their cousins. Mom had activities...mostly for the grandkids....for us to play. Really funny times. Good memories.

One of the days, we went to Lava Hot Springs. Jason L-O-V-E-D being at the pool and I really enjoyed being in the sun. I don't think we go to the pool enough. We had fun riding on the slides and going off the diving board. Jason and I got really really sun burned and we are still feeling it three days later. Next year, we'll bring SPF 60.

Just some random photos of the trip...We had a fire going every night. Let's just say we had a lot of smores. Each night when the fire began, it seemed like the grandkids gathered around and just sat with Grandma and Grandpa. They were cute.The best part of the trip was being together. Whether is was visiting around the firepit or playing silly games together, Jason and I enjoyed being with the family.

birthday boy

2011-07-19T06:59:00.004-06:00

This little guy had a birthday party and we were invited! He is a big three years old. Crazy! Isn't he just he cutest? We think he is great and love him to pieces. This was the present that we got him. A really noisy - seriously - gun. Ooops. Sorry Jess and Bryan.

And...I just like this picture of these two.

Happy Birthday Kayson.

the 4th . . . a recap

2011-07-17T17:44:00.007-06:00

So the 4th is like the best holiday ever. Period. Everyone agree? Good. Now that we are all on the same page, here's a short recap of the 4th for us.

We spent the night out in Lewiston (don't want to miss anything). Somehow the tradition got started that some of my cousins get together the night before the 4th and play Murder in the Dark. Gruesome game but really fun. Then in the wee hours of the the morning, we went to bed in our tent in the back yard. All too soon, we were awakened by the cannon that goes off at 6:00 am. Lovely.

Jason and I had a delicious breakfast courtesy of the the Lewiston Fire Department. Then it was off to the famous parade. We had a lot of fun watching the family around us. Too funny. I think I hiped it up a bit too much for Jason, because he was disappointed in the whole parade. In my own unbiased opinion though, it is the best parade.

We attended the Jan Hall 4th of July party. It was so fun to see everyone and enjoy their company. Thanks Jan and Alyson for letting us come. This collage shows the happenings of the day from the breakfast in the morning to the picnic in the afternoon.Then it was off to Burley to finish off the Firework sales. It was a good day.

We are already counting down the days until the celebration next year.

fireworks season

2011-06-30T18:40:00.004-06:00

So it's fireworks season again. Jason has been gone for the past week to Burley and I have been here in Logan. Can I just say that I really REALLY hate being at home by myself? Because I do. Seriously. So I have tried and tried to keep myself super-D-duper busy this entire week so that it will go by faster. And actually it has been a crazy and fast week!

This Jason and me at the firework stand when I dropped him off. It's a bit fuzzy. I know. Sorry.

To explain our week, I'll split it into two.

SO, Jason had a little visit to the emergency room in Burley, Idaho this week. He sliced a few of his fingers really bad. He sent me pictures. (Yuck. I'll spare you all.) The good news: He didn't cut them completely off. He also has been enjoying being with and working with his family. I think that they have too much fun when they all get together, even during firework season.

As for me, I've been really busy with my new job at work, which is really nice. I've been grocery shopping, cleaning, and paying the bills. Fun. Lucky for me though, I have also been spoiled, because I have been out to my parents a lot lately. They have been feeding me really good food and keeping me company along with my cute neices and nephews. They are the Bomb!

Although we have had pretty good weeks apart, I'll be really, really, super, super-D-duper happy when we're spending a week together again.

P.S. happy 4th of JULY!!

It's my favorite holiday...better than Christmas!

some AC

2011-06-04T09:28:00.002-06:00

So remember how last summer it was really really super-D-duper hot. Jason and I had to relocate and slept on an air matress on our living room floor because it was slightly cooler. Horrible experience! Well. We are happy to report that we now have a window air conditioner in our bedroom!

Dad came over in between his meetings on Thursday to help Jason get it in properly. What a champ! We made a quick trip to Lowes to get the supplies we needed. Soon Dad and Jason had the AC properly installed, and Dad ran off to his meetings. Thanks Dad for making time for us! We think he is the best!
Personally, I think both of these guys are great! As for the AC, Jason and I love it and seriously I don't know how we lived without it.

It's official......

2011-05-10T08:01:00.002-06:00

I'm a graduate.

Graduation was Saturday. I just want you all to know that it was the longest day of my life! Seriously.
So this is the only picture of my husband and me at the graduation. Don't know why we just got one. Not the best picture, but I had to prove my honey was there.

P.S. I don't know why NO ONE told me that I looked like a fruit cake. Let's be honest. The whole prego gown and the funky hat - not that flattering. Oh, well. The things you do to get a diploma!

P. {double} S. I graduated with my older brother, Court. It was pretty cool. Plus, all of our siblings were there too. You guys are awesome! Thanks for sitting through not one, but two long graduations.

So to wrap it up: Emily Pollard = college graduate.

graduate

2011-05-03T07:04:00.003-06:00

So I graduated in December. Did you know that? It's taken me this long to actually come to terms with the whole thing. It has been really weird for me to not be in school. I always loved classes, tests, papers, and all the other stresses of school. And now it's over and has been for a few months. Well, I am now making the end of my college career official this weekend at the graduation ceremony on Saturday.

School has been a huge part of my life and this is quite an accomplishment for me. I'm a little--actually I'm super excited and proud of myself. So I think I have some bragging rights. I made a short list of my Utah State happenings over the last three years of my life.

1-I graduated Magna Cum Laude. I'm really excited and happy about that accomplishment.
2-Most Embarrassing moment at USU: falling flat on my butt running to the bus. You see I had the entire bus stop and the entire bus pointing and laughing at my helpless self laying on the ground. That made for a good start to a day!
3- My lowest grade was a B+. I got three of them. I'm still upset about one. Grrr!
4- Most pointless class of my life: Intelligent Life in the Universe. Yes. It's a real class and I took it...and a few naps in it. Thank you general requirement classes!
5- Class I learned the most in: Advanced Family Finance. Its about investing and estate planning. It was super hard and really kicked my butt--to be blunt.
6- I had awesome roommates every year. I had too much fun with them. Good memories.
7- The best part of my college experience at Utah State. Meeting my husband. That topped it off for me.

recently....

2011-04-17T07:14:00.009-06:00

Jason and I took Thursday and Friday off work to get a few things done and to simply be together. It was wonderful to have an extended weekend! I really needed those few days to relax and be with my husband. We really didn't have very much planned, which was so nice. Unfortunately, the days filled up all too quickly and the weekend went by all too fast.

1- So we just got a Chuck-A-Rama in Logan. Jason is oh-so happy. We love buffets and all the germs that come along with buffets. We tried out the new resturant in the late afternoon, and we were the only people there under the age 65. What an afternoon!

2- I had an appointment with the doctor. It was good and I feel like we are actually getting closer to find out a solution to my medical issue. We also had dentist appointments. We haven't been in...a while...okay two whole years. I was really nervous to know what the dentist found. Luckily, we had no cavities! Sweet!

3- We went for a few rides in Jason's new truck. It's a lovely 1985 Toyota. To say that Jason loves his truck is an understatement. He thinks it is the next best thing to sliced bread. I'm still learning how to drive it with Jason's help. I've never had to use stick-shift automobile before. Let's just say, I think it is best if Jason drives the truck. I don't want to cause a wreck.

4- Jason and I played a little basketball at the church. Not to brag or rub-it-in, I just want you to know that I won...no dominated...our games of horse. That's all.

5- We went coupon shopping. Actually, I took Jason with me to coupon shop. I got tons of stock pile items this week, and I did okay on my savings...could have done better. I must say, that this couponing thing is getting little out of control. I'm turning into a crazy lady. Well, crazier than I already am.

6- So Gossners cheese is the delicious and not super expensive. We go to the "Cheese Store" for all our cheese. We love Gossners because we can save money, AND we get to sample all sorts of cheeses and get a carton of yummy milk. Seriously, what store does that.

7- To top off our weekend, we went to Riverton on Saturday to the sealing of our cute neice, Jennah, to her parents. It was such a special day for our family. We are so lucky to have her with us. She is such a doll and we love her.

What a perfect way to end our extended weekend.

a night with the girls

2011-03-30T06:58:00.002-06:00

On Thursday night, we took Miss Jayme Jean and Miss Rachel Mae for a little night out. Jayme was spending her spring break here in Cache Valley with the fam, so we thought it would be a fun night to get together and go to the Fun Park. Really, what is more fun than that?? And, because no body goes out on Thursday nights, we were just about the only ones there. So really, we could make fools of ourselves and no one knew... The girls spent the night roller blading while Jason and I sat on the side and watched. We actually had to go out on the rink and few times to rescue the girls. They were having a difficult time staying on their feet. We played a few games as well, and I'm sad to say Jason and I even tried a few arcade games, like Dance Dance Revolution. Bad idea. We'll leave that one to the girls next time. We found out the Jayme is really good at air hockey and Rachel is a good driver on the racing games. It was fun to take silly pictures with them and just be together. Thanks for coming along you two.

blessed

2011-03-25T07:14:00.003-06:00

So, I don't know if I've told you that Jason is the Bomb. I have some sort of mysterious sickness for the past few months....and its kind of been going on for our whole marriage. It's a bit frustrating. Lately I have really not been feeling well and have been super exhausted. Its kind of a bummer for Jason because I'm usually moaning that I'm in pain or I'm asleep. I've spent a lot of time laying in bed (I've become really good at the rubics cube though!).

I just to brag for a minute, because for the past few months...every day mind you.....I have come home from work to dinner on the table. He says that he makes dinner so that I can go to bed and get feeling better. What a champ! Jason also cleans the entire house on Saturdays because I can't even mop the kitchen floor. Cleaning, really cleaning, just takes it out of me lately. So Jason has been doing the laundry, dusting, scrubbing, and deep cleaning the house for me. AND, he makes it to every appointment that I have with all the doctors (He holds my hand while they take my blood because I'm kind of a whimp.). But this isn't all. He does so much for me to help me try to get better. He is the best! How did I get so lucky?

hear the story yourself

2011-02-21T08:21:00.001-07:00

This post is a little out of order, but oh well.

Over the course of these 10 years, KSL has conducted a few interviews with the Pollards. The link below lets you hear the story from Michael.

Idaho man defying the odds 8 years after rare surgery - ksl.com

The condensed (which means there is a lot of missing details) story is below.......

a special celebration

2011-02-21T07:39:00.006-07:00

Over ten years ago, my Father-in-law was diagnosed with a rare disease that caused his some of his organs to shut down. This month marks the ten year anniversary of the five organ transplant that Michael underwent. Most individuals with his condition only make it a few month after a transplant of this kind. Michael has now made it ten years. Some years have rough and some times the Pollards thought he wouldn't make it. It is truely a miracle to have him in our life. There was a beautiful open house this weekend to celebrate this accomplishment. It is a bit difficult to describe the help and support that the entire community has shown to our family these 10 years. There are many more people who have gone above and beyond to help us. We are all so grateful for their love and support. This weekend, we were happy to these people come celebrate with us.

Blessed?? Yes, indeed.(I apologize for the wedding picture. It's nice to have an excuse to share it because I love them!)

a quick trip

2011-01-09T15:04:00.003-07:00

Jason and I made a quick trip to Riverton this weekend. We have been planning a trip to the Oquirr Mountain Temple for quite some time now, and we finally went. We have been looking forward to this trip for a while. Jason and I both were very excited when Friday finally came. We hurried down to the temple on Friday night and had an enjoyable experience there. That is one beautiful temple!

This trip was great because we went to the temple, and we got to visit with FAMILY! Rob and Kelsie were so nice to let us just drop in and stay the night. Those two are awesome. When we arrived, Kelsie just happened to be pulling scookies out of the oven, and we visited until we were all yawning and readying for bed. They were very good to us and we are so grateful that they let us sleep at their house.

The next morning, Jason and I were greeted by three cute little girls at the top of the stairs. We had a wonderful breakfast with them (that Jason is still talking about). And, we played a stimulating game of Zingo! with the twins. Emi and Lizzie are pros at the game.

While we were playing, I was talking to Rob and Kelsie and making faces at Alisa and I wasn't paying too much attention to the game. I didn't really think those girls would notice, because Jason was playing with them, but they did. Emi kept asking me, "Umm...when are you going to sit down?" and "Could you sit down now?" A while later, I was still not paying close attention to the happenings of the game, and Lizzie began to just play for me. Thanks for helping me out, Lizzie. Next time, I will be more focused on the game.

I was also taking pictures of them and they didn't want to just be in the photo. They wanted to take the photo. So, these are the highlights of the pictures that they took of us. They giggled at Jason's funny faces and asked to take more and more pictures of him (I guess I'm not that fun to take a picture of). Yes, there is a picture of my mid section. Emi took it. Who needs to see my face??We left shortly after we played our games. On our way home, we stopped at Brandon and Jenn's house and visited for a while. I actually think that we surprised them. While we were there, we saw another cute little girl. We had a nice visit with them as well.
It was quick trip, but it was great!

Christmas in Review Part 2

2011-01-01T15:27:00.005-07:00

This year, Jason and I celebrated our Christmas a day early. On Christmas Eve, Jason and I opened our presents from each other and found that Santa had filled our stockings. He must have known that Jason and I would be out of town that night. Jason bought me a beautiful pearl necklace and some clothing items that I have been asking for. Isn't he wonderful? I gave Jason a drill and circular saw that he has been wanting for quite some time. Now, I can put him to work. Great. It was a perfect Christmas Eve morning.

Please excuse the crazy-looking morning pictures below. I look absolutely lovely in the morning.

Then, it was off to Burley to celebrate. We got to Burley and spent that afternoon with family. Jason and I even went to the church and played some ball. If I remember right, I won each game...actually Jason LET me win. On Christmas Eve night, Grandpa Morley read the Christmas story from the Bible. Although this year he gave the "shortened version." Afterwards, the girls went downstairs to wrap presents. There was wrapping paper, tape, and boxes everywhere. I guess the girls get together and do this every year. It's a fun tradition. Then, we played games and watched movies late into the night.On Christmas morning, we woke up and found ourselves opening more gifts. Jason and I got cloths, a dutch oven, some books, and home decorations. We were seriously so spoiled! That day we played new games. I read almost half of one of my books (I love it--more to come on the book later). Jason played ball with his brother-in-law at the church (it's more of a competition than when playing with me). We also watch new movies and enjoyed each other's company. It was a fun weekend to be with family and celebrate Christmas.

Christmas in Review Part 1

2010-12-30T07:35:00.004-07:00

The Christmas celebrations began for us a few weeks before the actual Christmas Day. The Hall's had a Christmas party and we all had a good time being together. I love when I get to see my family because we all don't get together too often. The party began with a wonderful meal of pizza. We ate and talked amoung ourselves. You have to catch each other up on the happenings in everyone's lives, ya know.

Rachel created beautiful nativity that th grandchildren recreated. Each grandchild took part in the nativity, although we had two (and our only two) shepards run away. We didn't have any one to be the wiseman, so my older brother had to step in. Nontheless, it was wonderful and reminded us of what the Christmas holiday is truely about.

We also had a talent show. Mom told every family to prepare a talent to share. Each family had little children show off their cute dancing, gymnastic, piano playing, and singing talents. Jason and I....well....we had to come up with something of our own, which was less cute to watch. We sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Thankfully, the other joined in to help us.We opened presents from each other. Thanks Jenn and Brandon for the movie and treats. Perfect! Watching the children open their presents was so fun. Each got so excited about what they recieved from Grandma Cille and Grandpa. After we ate ice cream and enjoyed each others company. It was a great way to start off the holiday season.

We're ready....

2010-12-21T18:48:00.003-07:00

...For ChRisTmaS!

From the Pollard house to your's, Merry Christmas!

babies

2010-11-11T18:54:00.006-07:00

My sister and her husband recently adopted a beautiful baby girl. Jason and I went down to visit a few weekends ago and to meet our newest neice, and she is an absolute doll. We are so excited for Jenn and Brandon and we feel so bless to have this gorgeous girl in our family.

As a side note, we too have a baby. No we are not pregnant, but we have the next best thing. A new car. After driving every availible car in Cache Valley and Box Elder county, we finally purchased a Pontiac Grand Prix. Shortly after we purchase the vehicle, Jason was gushing over the wonderful features of the car during a drive in the automobile. He told me that this car was "our baby." Interesting choice of words, I thought. However, there is some truth in this statement. First, Jason LOVES this car and I do too (but I don't express my love for the automobile like Jason does on a regular basis). Second, we probably paid as much as it would have cost to have an actual child. So, yes. This is our baby.
Picture cortesy of Google.

no bueno

2010-10-23T16:37:00.004-06:00

This is how we feel about car shopping. Not fun at all. Period.

the happenings

2010-10-06T07:18:00.006-06:00

It has been quite an eventful few days here at the Pollards. The first few days in October always are. Why? Well, it is usually conference weekend and my birthday. However, this year we had a few more events to squeeze in.

*Jason and I sold the Buick. It was a good car while it lasted, but we are happy to have sold the car. It was quite a blessing. Now, we are juggling one car and using the bike (...again). So far all has worked out well.
*I got my hair highlighted. I have never colored my hair before, so this was a big thing. Jessica did a wonderful job and I must say I feel like a new woman with blond/carmel highlights. Jason also got his hair cut and is looking fabulous.

*We went out to eat at the Coppermill after the Priesthood Session. It was a delicious meal.

* Conference was wonderful, as always. Jason and I are not able to watch conference on our television because we don't have any cable set up. So, we resort to watching the prophet on the internet. I must say, it's not very comfortable to crowd around the computer screen. Maybe one day we will be able to comfortably watch conference on our TV from the soft couch. We watched the final session of conference on Sunday at the Hall residence. However, Jason and I seemed to watch the cute neices and nephews more than the speakers (we'll have to just read those talks).

*Mom made a birthday dinner for me while we were out with the family, even though my real birthday really wasn't until Tuesday. It was a good thing we did some celebrating on the weekend because I got sick on Monday afternoon. Sleeping on the bathroom floor really isn't what I have in mind for a happy birthday. I woke up on my birthday still feeling a little sick, so I stayed in bed for most of the morning. By afternoon I was feeling great. I don't know what sickness I caught but it was horrible. Jason made me a delicious dinner and stayed up late with me decorating for fall with my new birthday gifts. That was my birthday in a nutshell. What a way to spend the first few days in October. Even though I was sick for some of it, it was great and I'm sure I'll look forward to this time next year.

P.S. Did you know that I think this guy is the best?! He cracks me up all the time and is way too good to me. I am oh-so lucky. I sure love him. Just so you know....

This is picture is just him being silly one night. What a funny guy. I'm sure Jason will LOVE that I shared this photo with everyone.

birthday boy

2010-09-21T19:07:00.003-06:00

We celebrated this boy's 23rd birthday all weekend long. It really was quite the celebration. However, I did not take as many pictures as I should have of the weekend. Shame on me!

We traveled to Burley for the occasion and for a nice visit. Jason thoroughly enjoyed his birthday in his homeland of Burley with the family. For the birthday celebration we went out to eat with some of the family, played lots of games, and laughed with our family. Jason and I attended a Burley High football game solely to watch the cheeleaders on Friday night (in my totally unbiased opinion, Jason's sister is the best one on the squad). We also hung out with some crazy hyper girls-Jayme and Shanyi-later that night. Jason got to play with his dad's power tools and visited his Grandpa. On your birthday, what more could you ask for?! We really did have a wonderful weekend celebrating Jason's birthday. Geez! He should have birthdays more often!

a happy day

2010-09-11T18:09:00.004-06:00

It really doesn't seem that long ago that Jason and I were married. I still even consider us "newlyweds," but today we celebrated our one year anniversary. It has been a wonderful first year and I am looking forward to the many more years to come with Jason.

just so ya know

2010-08-23T21:43:00.004-06:00

I am making Blurb book of our blog for the first year of our marriage. Basically, it will be a book of our entire blog for us to keep. It will essentially be the journal of the Pollards. I plan to make one each year. However, there are a few thing that I would like to include. For your own reading pleasure, they are listed below.

1 - Jason has taken a liking to Mozart. He listens to Mozart on the computer and then stand like a conductor and leads his imaginary orchestra. Jason says it stimulates the mind. I'm afraid that this is what we will be listening to constantly when school resumes next week.

2 - Sadly, our camera died this week. (Hence, there are no pictures to accompany this post) What a sad day at the Pollard household. It has been a bit difficult for me, because I L-O-V-E-D my camera. Now we are relying on our phones to document our lives.

3 - We love corn. Period. We are now enjoying the produce from the garden, and corn is our favorite. Sometimes (more often than not), we have a few cobs of corn for dinner. Nothing else. Just corn drenched in butter. It is scrumptious!

4 - Jason and I are now avid coupon shoppers. Going to the grocery store is very exciting now days. We clip tons of coupons and prepare a grocery list a few days in advance. Oh the anticipation of grocery shopping! I know that it sound rediculous, but we have a fun time finding good deals. Our goal is to be able to go to the grocery store, pay a few dollars, and leave with lots of merchandise. If you have any tips, let us know!

5 - Because we have been using coupons, we now buy things in bulk when they are on sale. (This past week, I bought enough cereal to last us until the end of the year. Yikes!) The down side is that we are running out of room to put everything, but it is a good thing I've got Jason. He rearranges and reorganizes to get everything in our apartment.

6 - The Cache Valley weather is finally cooling off at night. We are now able to sleep unstairs in our own bed! NOTHING is better than your own bed. We are SO grateful for the pleasant weather that now allows us to sleep in our bed and not on the floor downstairs.

7 - I am now sporting a pedometer for a wellness program at work. To help me ensure that I get my 10,000 steps in each day, Jason has also been wearing pedometer. Moral support, you know. It is now turning into quite the competition to see who can walk the most each day. I have consecutively lost each day. So, for the record, if you see us walking around in circles, know that we are just trying to get our steps in for the day.

Wow. What a life!

a trip with the girls

2010-08-13T08:27:00.010-06:00

Have you ever heard the phrase,"Shop until you drop"? Well I really didn't understand that phrase until I went with the Pollard girls to Salt Lake. These girls travel to Salt Lake every year around August to shop, shop, shop. This has become quite the tradition. This trip was my first full experience with the Girls' Trip.

We literally got to the Gateway when stores were just starting to open and shop until they closed. I have never been on such an intense shopping trip before, but we had such a good time getting shopping for our cloths for the next year.

(This is only picture I got of us in a store. We were just so busy shopping to pose for a picture!)

We ate lots of yummy food too! THe resturants were awesome. On a side note, all of us loved the desserts at Applebees and the chocolates at the Gateway. I think the only problem was that I ate too much , so I'll start my exercising tomorrow....maybe.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was riding in the car with everyone. We all sang along to songs from Colbie Caillat, Glee, and Sugarland. I wasn't really on tune, but everyone else was.

This picture shows how crowded the car ride home was. It was amazing that we were even able to get every purchase in the car with us. We had bags everywhere --under the seat, in our laps, stacked all around our seats, and everywhere in between. We were all set with another year's worth of clothing.

That was one crazy adventure. We laughed at silly things, sang loud to Colbie Callet, Glee, and Sugarland songs, and just enjoyed being together. We had such a good time. Thanks to the Pollard gals! I am already looking forward to next year.

P.S. Jason feels a bit left out of this post. So, while I was away vacationing, Jason was slaving away at work. However, on Friday he went up to Burley to spend some quality time with his dad. Jason was talking about his trip all week. They built him a really cool hat rack, that is painted black and green (Boston Celtic green--mind you) and now hangs in our office. Jason always enjoys being with his dad. Thanks for entertaining him, Michael.

Jason and I each went on vacation, and now we are home and back to the same routine. But is was sure nice to have little break from every day life.

first annual A J Hall family reunion

2010-08-04T16:22:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, the Hall family celebrated their first annual family reunion. When I was little, I always thought family reunions were for families with "older children," but I guess that's us now. It really was fun to be with everyone.

Mom got everyone matching shirts (a Vinylizeit creation) that had my dad's baby picture on the front. He LOVES his baby picture. It's kind of a big deal. Everyone surprised Dad by wearing his famous baby picture across their chests.

Jason and I enjoyed playing games, eating yummy food, hanging out in the hammock, and wading in the stream with the family. I miss seeing all of our cute neices and nephews together. They are too fun!

All twelve of them together. Isn't it great?

We sure enjoyed getting together with everyone and we are looking forward to reunion next year!

up-to-date

2010-07-25T10:27:00.005-06:00

Yes. I know. I have been a bit neglectful of this blog. For you own reading pleasure (and my own documenting purposes), I have a few things to catch up on. Here we go.

1. Fireworks - Jason's family sells fireworks over the forth of July. It is lots of hard work, and the whole family helps out. This year, Jason spent a week in Burley selling the huge fireworks -the ones that are illegal in Utah. On the weekends, I went up to Idaho to help with the selling (even though I didn't know what I was doing most of the time) and Jason and I had a good time. Here are a few pictures documenting the happenings of the week. I must say, I am very VERY happy to have Jason home. It was a rough week without him.

2. Weather - So it's hot. We have no air conditioning. Let's just say that it is a bit unpleasant. We try to go for drives in the evening because at least our cars have air conditioning. Jason and I are now sleeping downstairs on our floor because it is mildly cooler. And I never thought I would say it, but I'm looking forward to cooler weather.

3. The Garden - We are finally enjoying the produce of our garden! I am thoroughly enjoying our lettus (which might come as a surprise to many). Yesterday, Jason and I picked some zucchini and beans. We will be eating those today. Yum!

4. Camping -Jason and I have been wanting to go camping for a while now. This past weekend, we finally got around to pitching a tent. We invited our neices and nephews to go up to High Creek and sleep over. My family ended up coming to have a cookout with us that night. We spent the evening walking all along the creek, attempting to fish in the water, telling stories, and just having a good time. We didn't get to bed until late into the night, but we hope that everyone had a good time. We sure did.

That's all.

it must be true love....

2010-07-01T19:09:00.006-06:00

... if this cute guy lure me away from Lewiston on the Fourth of July. I sure have missed him this week. I must say. I am looking forward spending the fourth with him, even if it is away from all the celebrations in Lewiston.
(This picture is for Jason to show everyone that we truely are devoted Celtic fans.)

Happy Fourth of July!

my bargin shopper

2010-06-21T19:56:00.004-06:00

So Jason is a bargin shopper. If there is a good deal, Jason will buy it, even if we don't need it. Recently, we are have taken up the hobby of going to yard sales and browsing over the items. Well, on Saturday Jason found some yard sales to go check out and I tagged along. We really had no intentions of buying anything, but then we made our last stop. I knew that when Jason saw that grill, there was no way to talk him out of it. Although they were asking a whopping $50 for this new grill, Jason knew that he, of all people, could talk them down. After a while of bartering the owner did back down. While this was all happening, I was far away looking at purses. I'm not one to barter. Well, on that sunny day, Jason proudly left the yard sale with a new grill and a full propane tank for a mere $30. What a guy. We had steak that night for dinner. And we just might be eating out on the grill every night this summer.

On a side note, we went to the SummerFest in Logan too. We listened to some delightful salsa music and watched all of the crazy people of Logan dance to it. This was only my second time to the SummerFest, and I must say, it was quite enjoyable.

the tale of two trips

2010-06-14T11:12:00.003-06:00

The past two weekends we have traveled up to Burley. The first was to simply visit. All of Jason's siblings were there and it was nice to see them all again. We enjoyed playing games with each other and eating goodies. I saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers while we were there, aand Jason quickly found other things to occupy himself while I watch the movie with the girls. I must say that it was a delightful show. Jason and I might have to purchase that classic.

Later, Jason and Michael made a delicious steak dinner for every one. Yum! They are both excellent cooks. Although, Jason learned everything he knows from his dad (at least that's what I was told my Michael). I am just so happy that I married a cook. It has worked out well for both of us.

Because we did not make it up to Burley over Memorial Day, we went out to visit family graves in the Burley Cemetary. This picture is of Grandma Morley's grave. It was a nice visit.
While we were up there, we decided it would be a great idea to get Jason's canoe. However, we had a slight problem once we saw the canoe. It was 16 feet long. That's just a bit bigger than the truck we brought up to haul it back in. After multiple attempts to load the canoe into the back of the truck, we decided that it probably would not be too smart to drive down the freeway with this green thing hanging almost 7 feet out of the truck. Although it broke Jason's heart, we left the canoe there. Maybe one day we will get it down to our house.
One our second visit up to Burley, we went to strictly work. The Pollard family has some big plans for their yard this year, so we tried to get a head start on things. We were much too busy for pictures (and I was not too keen on taking pictures of my sweaty self), but I enjoyed working with Jason on the yard. Jason was up at 6:00 a.m. because he wasn't about to waste time. It was a very productive weekend, and there is still more to be done.

memorial day

2010-06-01T20:13:00.002-06:00

On Memorial Day, Jason and I decided that we have had enough of the cold weather, so we protested. We went swimming, because, dang it, it is supposed to be summer. Now, Bear Lake really is not the place to actually swim, because the water is fridged all year round. Nonetheless, we set out to have a nice summer Memorial Day.The drive there took a bit longer than intended, but it was beautiful when we got there. Once I got out of the car and dipped my toe in the water, I quickly decided that I would not be swimming that day and Jason agreed. That water was cold! There was no way that we would be able to submerse our whole bodies in that lake. I waded out in the water up to my knees, but that was about all the swimming I did.

So, Jason and I sat on the beach and ate a very delicious ham and cheese sandwich. After a grand total of about of about 20 minutes, we had eaten our sandwiches. We looked at each other and wondered what in the world to do now. Luckily, we had a frisby in the car, and we played on the beach for a bit longer, before deciding to drive home. It was a very long drive, and a short stay, but it was a wonderful day to spend our Memorial Day. Hopefully next time we wonder over to Bear Lake, we actually swim.

an update

2010-05-25T20:39:00.003-06:00

There have been a lot of things going on lately! Due to my lack of creativity today, I just compiled a simple list of what has been going on in our lives.

* I have started my first and last summer semester at Utah State University. It's been quite a challenge to focus on school work during these summer months.

* Jason had his first experience with ice skating this past weekend. I was really surprised to learn that he had never been on ice skates before. And, let me tell you, it was quite funny to watch. We went for a little birthday celebration for my neice. The children around us had walkers on the ice to help them balance, and I almost wondered if Jason needed one as well! He was clinging to the side wall. When he was brave enough to step two inches away from the wall, he wobbled and flung his arms wildly to balance himself. However, by the end of the night, he was doing very well. What a champ!

The two beginners :)

* We got our hair cut on Saturday. Jason was much happier with this cut than my sorry attempt, and, I must say, he looks very handsome. I got bangs. The last time I had bangs, my mother lovely back combed them into a beautiful floral arrangement on my forehead, so I was bit nervous for them. To my relief, they turned out great, except I just can't do them myself. I just need a beautician to do my hair every day!

* Tonight we ate our first corn on the cob of the season. This is one my favorite parts of summer. I love the way the corn tastes with butter dripping off the cob. There is nothing better than sweet corn stuck in and all around your teeth. It was absolutely scrumptious! I can't wait to eat the corn out of the garden, because it seems to always be so much better!
And that's it. That the life of these newlyweds.

our vacation

2010-05-16T10:13:00.005-06:00

This weekend Jason and I took a little time for ourselves. We took short vacation. We took Friday off work and thoroughly enjoyed it. Jason's Dad, who had traveled down from Burley, met up with us and Jason's sisters, Jessica and Jenna, to eat lunch (Thanks, Michael). We visited and had a wonderful time being together.

After our delicious meal, we traveled down to the Salt Lake valley for a wedding for my cousin. We made quite a weekend out of it. I was able to visit my siblings, which is very rare. We don't get TOGETHER too often (I hadn't see my sister, Stephanie, since Christmas!). It was so nice to visit and be with them for a short time.

Jenn and Brandon let us stay at their house (Thank You) and we had so much fun. We went out to eat, hung out, and shopped around town. Jason was introduced to IKEA for the first time. It was quite a thrilling experience. We absolutely LOVED everything we saw. Originally, we went there for Jenn for find a new desk for their beautiful new loft. In the end, we left with a new bookcase for our home. I'm sure that if we had a money tree in our backyard, we would have come home with much more. We are already excited for a return trip to IKEA.

My cousin, Ben, was married on Friday. The wedding itself was quite short. The whole ceremony lasted about 10 minutes. We enjoyed a nice meal following the wedding. I got a little carried away with taking pictures of my super cute neices and nephew. However, Lizzie did not want anything to do with my picture taking. Maybe next time.

It was a fun weekend to be with family. We look forward to seeing them all again.

planting some roots

2010-05-12T19:41:00.005-06:00

I had a Relief Society lesson a while back about attending our own ward (rather than ward hopping like most students do). The teacher told us to, "plant some roots, so that we can enjoy the fruits." Jason and I took it a bit literally. We are planting a garden.

Actually, we are helping Mom and Dad Hall with their garden. Together, we are going to have one huge garden and hopefully a big harvest. Jason is so excited for all of the vegetables, but I am mostly looking forward to the corn. Yum.

Jason and I don't know anything when it come to gardening, so we are lucky to have the help of some experts (Anthony and CeCille). For family home evening, we began planting. It was an educational experience for us all. Jason didn't know how to plant potatoes. I had no idea that their was poison on the seeds of corn (that is why they are pink). You learn something new every day.
While we were there, my brother's family came over. Trevor ran right out to help us plant. He was a little disappointed that there really wasn't much for him to help with. So, he played with his loader tractor in the garden telling us that he was going to dig big holes to plant seeds. He was a funny boy.While we were hard at work, I got a little carried away with taking pictures. I just thought that this place just looked so beautiful that evening.
We were not able to accomplish all that we had intended to, because it began to rain. We planted some red potatoes, a few rows of corn, and carrots. Mom had already planted the onions and peas, and they are already coming up. We'll be planting the rest later. For now, we are waiting the seeds to take root so that we can "enjoy the fruit."

2010-05-08T18:28:00.002-06:00

Happy Mothers Day!

We hope that you have a wonderful day.

Love,

The Pollards

a special occasion

2010-05-04T19:39:00.003-06:00

This past weekend, we returned to Jason's beloved homeland of Burley. We encounted quite a bit of rain on our way ride up to Burley, but once we rounded the corner into Cassia County, the skies were absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed the nice weather and sunshine, which was quite a change coming from dull, rainy Logan.
All of Jason's family gathered together this particular weekend for a special occassion. It was Grandpa Morley's 92nd birthday. He is a wonderful grandpa, and we enjoyed spending time with him this weekend. I think he was happy to have most of his family there celebrating with him. The whole Morley clan went out to eat at a nice little resturant in Burley, and afterwards we celebrated with cake and ice cream. It was a fun celebration.

This is a picture of Tammi's siblings with their Dad.On a side note, we had a great time being with the family. Here are a few other highlights of our trip.

* Jason's little sister, Jordan, had try-outs for cheer, and she made it (but we weren't too surprised because she is very good)! Congrats to her.

* Jason really enjoyed watching his Celtics play. We don't get the luxury of having cable to watch the NBA finals.

* Kayson was the center of attention at the Pollard household. He is such a cutie! We just love him to death.

* We took silly pictures of the family and ourselves.
* Most of all, we just enjoyed spending time with our FAMILY.

the cut

2010-04-30T14:00:00.004-06:00

Just by glancing over these pictures, most of your are thinking "uh-oh." I must say I think the same thing every time I see these pictures. We obviously were not of sound mind when we attempted to cut Jason's hair.

Now, Jason's sister, Jess, is an amazing beautician. We rely on her (a bit too much) to make sure that our hair is cut and looking decent. She was a bit busy this past week, and Jason and me, being the very impatient people that we are, decided that just this once I would try to trim Jason's hair, because it was a bit too long, and then we could have Jess finish it later. Not such a good idea.
Out at the Hall residence on Saturday, I took the hair trimmer to Jason's head. The task may look easy to preform when watching a skilled beautician do it, but, my dear friends, that is not the case. I started out just randomly grazing the trimmer over Jason's head, and it looked...okay. But, then I decided to go shorter. Let's just say that by the time I had finished, Jason's hair looked like a patched quilt. His hair was completely different lengths in various places, and he was a nervous wreck. By this time, Jason and I decided I should probably stop before it got any worse. He could have lost all of his hair completely. I quickly sent him down to Vaughn, the local barber, to fix the mess I made. Apparently when Jason stepped into the barber shop, Vaughn ask, "What happened to you?!" Jason's reply, "My wife."

Well, Vaughn told Jason that he only knew one hair style, and the picture above shows it. The flat top (or in Jason's words: military man cut). Jason's hair is now about 1/4 of an inch long, and he is now sporting a hat just about every day, but I'm sure in about 2 weeks he will need another hair cut. When that time comes, I will not be "trimming it." I have now vowed that I will NEVER attempt such a task again. I'll leave that one to the expert.

a little trip down memory lane

2010-04-28T08:00:00.002-06:00

In Adams park sits a quaint little bench. It had officially been named by Jason and I. It's "our bench." This is where Jason proposed to me almost a year ago. We went to the park on Monday night for our Family Home Evening activity. We couldn't help taking a few minute sitting on our bench and reminiscing. On that beautiful spring day, the bench looked gorgeous and just the way I remembered a few months ago. It is a lovely place.

the bike

2010-04-19T07:51:00.005-06:00

Our car broke down this weekend, and, needless to say, Jason was not too pleased about the whole situation. Until it gets fixed though, Jason will be riding his new bike that he got for a "good deal" from a nice USU student from Japan, who needed to get rid of it. For now, Jason is just fine with riding his bike to work and to school, but I'm just not sure what we are going to do when it rains. Maybe I'll buy Jason a nice rainbow colored umbrella hat. Won't that look cute?

weekend of conference

2010-04-07T20:57:00.007-06:00

Conference weekend is a big occasion to me. I absolutely love it. I get so excited for this weekend. It only comes every six months, you know. But, honestly, who wouldn't look forward to conference weekend?? You get to hear the prophet speak (aren't you so grateful for a prophet??) and eat good food. Enough said.

Growing up, my family had numerous traditions during this weekend. One of these is the Cinnamon Twist. Mom made a gigantic cinnamon roll and we all ate it from the pan. It is scrumptious. Although no one can make it like Mom can, I have attempted to twice. The first one I burnt way back in October...but that is just my luck with baking as you all now know. This one turned out quite a bit better. And yes, Jason and I ate the whole thing by ourselves. We are now regretting eating all of the massive cinnamon roll. After the boys attend the priesthood session of conference, the girls, once they meet the age requirement of 18 years of age, meet up with them at the Coppermill and have a delicious meal with the whole extended family. It's mass chaos, but that is the Hall family for ya. It's great. Thanks to Dad for the wonderful meal.

(This is not the best picture of Jason and me, but its all I got....thanks to Jenn for taking crazy pictures of us)
Here are some of my beautiful Hall cousins and Aunt Karalee. I love them all to death and was so lucky to grow up so close to them all. It was fun to see them all again. We talked and laughed at each other, and it was a great way to end the Saturday night.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Sunday sessions of conference. President Uchtdorf's talk was beautiful and I enjoyed Elder Andersen's talk as well. It is simply wonderful to have the restored gospel on the earth and to be led by a prophet. Sunday was a perfect end to our weekend. I look forward to the next conference.

the simple life

2010-03-28T08:54:00.018-06:00

After a hard week of school and work, it is nice to simply come home to Jason. Nothing extravagant or exciting happened this weekend, and it was perfect. Although I find myself focusing on how difficult life can be, I realized this weekend that it is important to enjoy the simple things.

Jason and I....

started out the day by having some scones for breakfast. We laughed over breakfast and made a complete mess, but it was simply a perfect way to start out the day. I then made some rolls out of the extra dough. They turned out a bit funny-looking but oh well.

The welcome sign is courtesy of my sister Jenn. Behind them are my funny looking rolls.

We of course had to do the routine Saturday cleaning, so that we are ready for yet another week. We later visited family in Richmond, Lewiston, and Clarkston. We are pretty lucky to have some of our family close by. We love to simply be with them and visit.

In the evening, we went for a simple walk around Logan. It was beautiful.

That night we made a simple dinner. Pizza. Yum! After, we played a stimulating game of scrabble. I can never beat Jason, though. I guess I needed to improve my vocabulary. He gave me some sympathy points by letting me play some words that are not even real words. In all fairness, they really did sound legit, though. And then we took silly pictures of ourselves.

There you have it. It is simply a wonderful life. The end.

spring break 2010

2010-03-21T17:54:00.004-06:00

When someone talks about spring break, you automatically assume that they went to some exotic island and played all week long. Well, Jason and I mostly stayed in Logan and worked. No fun, but definately not uneventful.

Our week started out really good. We spent the weekend up in Burley with the family. Jason's cute sisters hung out with us and we had a fun time. We visited Grandpa Morley and played tons of games. Jason's little sister went on her very first date. Although I think that boy was a bit intimidated by Jason, it was very exciting. It was a very relaxing and wonderful weekend to be in Burley.

Then, we returned to Logan. Not a good idea. Jason and I went to work from eight until six every day. Who said this was a break?? I received my first speeding ticket ever. Jason sprained his ankle really bad. And no homework was done, as we had planned to. What a week.

On a happier note, Jason and I got our first washer and dryer. We think it is the next best thing to sliced bread. It is wonderful! We have since done three loads of laundry and we both take a moment to just look at these great machines.

We finished up our week by going to the Salt Lake Temple early on Saturday morning. It was beautiful day and a wonderful experience.

And that is it for us. Spring Break was no break at all, but we are sure happy that we had a week of no school.

looking back

2010-03-21T08:23:00.006-06:00

This week, I have been thinking about how quickly life changes. Looking back on past spring breaks in our lives amazes me. Someone was looking out for us long before we ever knew and was working out a way for us to be together. I apologize for the long post. It is for my own documenting purposes.

It was only five year ago that I was a sophomore at Sky View High School and Jason was junior at Burley High. (Just so you know, both schools had a bobcat for their maskot.) Jason was anticipating a new track season, where he ran the 4 by 4 and threw the shot put. I had just finished up my first and only season of basketball and was enjoying school. It doesn't seem that long ago that both of us were running around our high schools. We would have never guessed that either of us would be married a few short years later.

Three years ago, I was a senior at Sky View. I was anticating my second season of track and a trip to Washington D.C., where my team and I represented Utah in a political debate for high school students. Jason was in Honduras, specifically Choluteca. He was there for six months and enjoyed the people he taught. To this day, he still talks about how much he enjoyed those Hondurans and would like to go back one day.

One short year later, Jason was in Monjaaras, Honduras. Exactly two years ago, Jason was not allowed to walk near the beaches in his area, because it was spring break. Dispite the crazy people there for the break, he was loving the area. I was on the beaches of Hawaii for this spring break. I was enjoying my classes at Utah State, but I had no idea what I wanted to major in. I thought that I might go on a mission a few years later, if it was right at the time.

One year ago, I was at my apartment at Old Farm. All of my roommate has left for a fun spring break. I really had no desire to go any where, so I just stayed and worked. Jason was now at Utah State. He also was at his apartment, and his roommates had left too. Our apartment complex was pretty vacant for the spring break. He asked me out on our first date. We had hot chocolate and watched a movie.

Well, now this is all history. Time flies by all too quickly. Five years ago, I would have never guessed that my life would turn out to be like this, but I thank heaven every day that it is.

six months of wedded bliss

2010-03-11T08:13:00.004-07:00

Well, Jason thinks I'm crazy for even celebrating the occasion, but, really, who doesn't celebrate half anniversaries?? For now, I will spare the mushy talk and just document the event by sharing six things we have learned in these six months. (Jason even helped me put this post together.)

1 - Three little words can make everything better. I LOVE YOU

2 - Two gallons of milk (and sometimes even two and a half gallons) does not last a week in this household. We love our dairy products!

3 - Jason is more of a morning person. I am can be a NIGHT owl. Sometimes we have conflicts with that. One day we'll be on the same schedule.

4 - Plans?? Nothing ever goes according to plan.

5 - A messy house is "no bueno" (no good). And, I must say, Jason is the best house-cleaner I have ever seen.

6 - The best dates are the one to the Temple. Perfect.

These few months have flown by, and we have enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to the many more months to come.

from the Pollard kitchen

2010-02-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

I will be the first to admit that cooking is not my forte. Prior to marrying Jason, I could comfortably live on three squre meals of cereal a day. If not that, I could whip up some pancakes or scambled eggs for a meal. I lived off of breakfast foods, and I still love them. Well, those days are gone, and I have been trying to improve my cooking skills not only for Jason's sake, but for mine as well. (This was taken back when we were dating.)

Shortly after we got married, I decided to make my own recipe for dinner. Like a good little housewife, I had planned to have dinner all ready for Jason when he came home from work. I began to conjour up some sort of casserole that I had heard about. It didn't look or smell the way I had heard, but I, nevertheless, gave it to Jason to eat. Although he ate everything on his plate, Jason told me afterword that it was "very creative" (not exactly the words I was looking for). The casserole was promptly thrown in the trash, and I have yet to try that recipe again.

In all fairness, I do try to cook. Sometime I forget some ingredients in the recipe, like salt in the bread (but who needs flavorful bread??) or flour in the german pancakes (not a good idea). Other times, I get too excited and add a bit too much of one ingredient. That is when the sugar cookies end up tasting more like a blob of shortening (yucky). However, on those rare occasions, when I'm lucky, my cooking turns out to be pretty good. Resently, I tried a new recipe and it didn't turn out too bad. It's called Ritzy Pork.
It is no surprise that Jason is the better cook. He's specialty is stir fry (Honduran style) and anything that involves the crock pot. I look forward to the days that he makes dinner, because we both enjoy it a bit more than when I cook. I am very blessed to have such a good cook in my apartment (not to mention he is very good at washing dishes as well). Below is his Italian Chicken crockpot meal. Thank heavens he can cook, or we would be starving now.

Rest assured, though, that if you come over to eat or when we take food out to you, Jason will be doing the cooking.

back to school

2010-01-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

I told Jason on our first day back to school that I wanted to get a picture of us both before we headed off to classes. He thought the idea was completely crazy. So, these are the pictures I got of us a few nights later while we were studying.

Below are all the books that I have to read for my classes. Who wouldn't want to read these?? In complete fairness, my semester has been very interesting so far and I am loving it, but by the looks of these books, you wouldn't think so.

(My plan was to get a picture of me hard at work. However, after a quick look at my appearance, I decided a lovely pictures of my text books would suffice.)

This is Jason's second semester at Utah State, and, I must say, he is a very dedicated student. He definately is not the procrastinator that I am. Every night when I get home, he reminds me of not only what he has to complete for next week, but he also makes sure that I am on top of my school work as well.

And now it is off to the homework...again.

babysitting adventures

2010-01-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks, Jason and I have been able to tend our neices and nephews. We, in our unbias opinions, think they are the cutest kids ever. These are a few of the babysitting stories.

A few weeks ago, Jason and I were lucky to have Kayson come over to our apartment and play with him while his parents were out. That night Kayson wasn't feeling to well, and he wanted Jason to hold him. This picture was taken at dinner time. Jason's stew was on the menu as well as some breadsticks. Kayson was a good sport and tried everything we gave him to eat. However, he got frustrated quickly with the whole situation. Kayson is quite the indepentant little boy now that he can feed himself. Well, the Pollard apartment doesn't have the little spoons to fit into his mouth. He would put the big spoon up to his mouth and when it wouldn't fit, the stew would dizzle down his face. The thing is that Kayson is quite the clean little boy. After his attempt to eat, he would freeze as to say "Ummm...I'm dirty." On top of that, Jason and I don't have a bib, so what should we do? That's right, we improviced and loosely tied a big cloth around his shoulders. Kayson wasn't too thrilled about the whole idea, but he ate his dinner. I think he enjoyed playing cars with Jason more than eating dinner with us. Next time, Jason and I will make some thing a little more easy to eat for Kayson.

Just this past week, Jason and I tended Garrick and Holly's kids while they were out to hear Mike Lee speek. We picked up Hannah and Kaitlyn from gymnastics and drove out to their house where we ate dinner and played Sorry with the kids. These are our little gymnastic stars.

Of course, Trevor played with his gates and animals most of the time. He would tell the animals where they needed to be and was a pretty cute little farmer. When it was time for bed, he really didn't have a desire to get in his pajamas at all, so rather than make him mad, Jason and I let him parade around in his underpants. Right before we took him down to bed, Trevor randomly put his hands in a gun position and pointed them at each person in the room and yelled, "Put em up!" He is so crazy and really keeps us all laughing. What a boy.

Amoung other things, we made sure the kids got their homework done before bed. Rachel was working on a story for her English class and Kyle read to Jason. They are both very smart and got their homework done in no time.

Casen was so cute as well. He was such a good boy being away from his mother. I had a difficult time trying to get him to sleep. I guess I need a mother's touch (something I don't have), but he was a cute little boy and we love him so much.

We enjoyed spending time with our neices and nephews. Thanks to their moms and dads for letting us tend them! We hope we see them all again soon!

a very merry first Christmas

2009-12-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas together was wonderful. This whole holiday season was fun for Jason and I to share traditions and make our own.

*This Christmas Eve, we went up to Lewiston to Grandma Hall's for our big family get together. Growing up, the grandchildren would reinact the nativity, but now that we are all older, the younger generation has replaced us. I must say that they do a wonderful job and it is always fun to be together with the whole family. Grandma even said that Santa stopped by and dropped off some extra gifts that he had earlier that day. I received a nice dish towel for the apartment, and Jason got some winter gloves. Thanks Santa! We had a wonderful evening with the family.
A little explanation is needed for this collage below. The top picture is of Jason and me with Casen. Kaitlyn and I are seen making a funny face in the next. Grandma Richards and Mom are next. Grandma Richards came up for Christmas and it was sure nice to have her there. Below is Grandma Hall in that tiny picture, Jason, Me, and then the cutest little shepard, Trevor.

* This is Christmas morning. We look lovely, but I still need to document it. I was the first to wake up at about 5:30 a.m. Yes. I was very excited to see what Santa brought. I feel asleep soon after as we traveled.

My mom and dad gave us some cute new Aggie shirts. This is the only picture we have of us together in them. Go Aggies!

* After traveling up to Lewiston to see the Halls, we made our way up to Burley to see the Pollards. We had nice Christmas night and weekend with them playing games and watching movies. I had good intentions to take more pictures while we were up in Burley, but I have some much fun hanging out with the family that I forget. These few will have to do until we are in Burley again.
Jason and I love to play games and every time we go to Burley, we have so much fun playing all sorts of games with the family. Jason has taken a liking to playing chess lately. He has grown tired of playing it with me though, because I'm not much competition. Apparently, his uncle, Tony, is the master and Jason has been looking forward to playing him for some time. Jason does what every one to know that he, in fact, did win this game.

These are some of the gifts we received from Jason's parents. We got an external hard drive for our computer, and Jason was oh-so happy about that. He has been talking about it for days now. He also got some pajama pants. I got some cute cloths and a huge jug of Paul Mitchell hairspray. I love it! It smells so good and works wonders. Thanks for the gifts!

It was very good Christmas and now we are already talking about what we are going to do for next Christmas. Only a year away.

one crazy cute little boy

2009-12-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Jason's nephew, Kayson, is such a cutie! Jason sure loves that little boy and talks about him all the time. Last time we drove out to Richmond to visit, Kayson was talking in his own little language and apparently telling us about his new curtins in his room, the beautiful Christmas tree, and just about everything under the sun. He was quite the talker, and I'm sure I will one day understand what he is saying. Jason was having a great time playing with Kayson and got some cute pictures of him.

He caught some especially silly expressions of Kayson, and they make me laugh each time I see these pictures. He is one fun little boy.

This is the expression Jason got when he told him to smile.

We sure love that kid and can't wait to see him again.

a Christmas tradition

2009-12-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Each year my family would decorate ginger bread houses at Christmas time. Mom would spend the entire day baking ginger bread, and at night, everyone would gather round the table to make the perfect ginger bread house. This particular tradition is my favorite and something that I look forward to every year. Jason, however, apparently has never decorate a real ginger bread house before, so this was something new for him.

My brother, Garrick, and his family were present for the decorating family home evening. Courtney even came too. Jason and I decorated our own house. It ended up turning out very cute (thanks to all those who helped us). And, I must say, Jason did a wonderful job for a first timer.

We had some wonderful helpers. Rachel, Kyle, Kaitlyn, Hannah, and Trevor all helped Jason and me decorate our house. We even used some of their ideas from their own houses (The heart on the back of our house is a copied idea from Hannah's house).

TA-DA! Here is the finished product. We loved making the ginger bread houses with the family. Thanks mom for baking all day long so that we could decorate these houses!

After we made an entire mess of the house, my mom helped me make a wreath for my apartment. It's a little difficult to decorate for Christmas when there are no Christmas decorations. My mother has been wonderful to help me learn how to make my own decorations. While Jason and Dad cleaned up the mess of the ginger bread houses, my mom and I made a wreath. I think it turned out super cute. Thanks to Jason, it is now afixed to our back door (since that is the only door we use).

Thanks again, Mom.

Christmas Tree

2009-12-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas together has been quite an adventure, and we have had a good time sharing traditions and ideas for our Christmases together. This year, we decided on going to cut down a real tree for our home, even though neither of us have had a real tree before. So, Jason's sister and brother-in-law, Jessica and Bryan, were kind enough to let us come along with them to pick a Christmas tree. After wondering the mountain side for a while, both of us decided on a tree. We appreciate Jess and Bryan for letting us come along with them and for help us find a good tree.
( don't mind my 1980's style clothing. My family is not big into winter sports, so the winter I have are the out of day moon boots and crazy colored cloths. Cute.)

We didn't realize it before, but the fake trees are nothing like the real trees. They are not as full as the bushy fake tree I have always had. Let me tell you, it was difficult for me to decorate. I was quite a bit frustrated and grumpy. After a few hours of unsuccessfully lighting the tree, I threw the wad of Christmas lights hard on the floor and yelled at the tree, and Jason was nominated to finish wrapping the lights around each branch of the tree. He did a wonderful job, and after I decorating, un-decorating, redecorating, un-decorating, redecorating, our tree was finished. It turned out to be cute, and love the way it looks in our tiny apartment. It's perfect for us.(needless to say, this picture was take the next day when we were both a lot happier about the whole decorating ordeal)

So here is the story...

2009-12-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I realize that we are a bit behind on our blogging (and some of you have even reminded me multiple times how far behind we are). For that Jason and I are sorry that we have not kept you all posted on the happenings in our lives. However, we do have a bit of a problem. Yes, we finally got our computer, and it is oh-so nice to have in our home. The problem is that we do not have internet. We have tried Digis, Qwest, Comcast and even tried to go in on a bill with our neighbors for wireless internet, but all of our efforts have failed, and we are still without internet. Apparently there is something wrong with our computer, which is upsetting to both Jason and me (mostly Jason...he feels a little cut off from the world). Any way, we apologize, and for now, we will try to blog from other various computers. Just so you know.

We're still here

2009-10-19T20:27:00.000-06:00

Yes, we are still here and alive and well. The problem with having a blog is that if you don't have a computer, there is virtually no way to keep the blog updated like it should be. After some consideration, we just purchased our own computer and are awaiting it's arrival in a few weeks. We are so excited to finally have one to call our own, so that we are not using everyone's computer. Thanks to each person who has willingly let Jason and me use their computers. We appreciate it.
With this purchase, there will be more frequent postings to come....

2009-09-21T10:30:00.000-06:00

Jason and I got married on September 11, 2009. Here are a few of our bridal pictures to entertain you until we get out blog completely up and running.

2009-09-06T10:32:00.000-06:00