no bueno

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

the happenings

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

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

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

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

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

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!