one year down... an eternity to go

well, we did it... we hit the one year mark!  woo hoo!  josh and i decided to keep our one year anniversary low key (mostly because our trip to florida in a week is our anniversary/my birthday present).  josh had to work but we were able to have a lunch date at cafe sabor.  nothin like getting some free food just because it's your anniversary.  for dinner that night, we went to a little italian restaurant called le nonne.  josh's steak was fabulous, and my mahi mahi was to die for.  we also got a free creme brulee as an anniversary treat.  delish!  

after dinner we needed to walk off some of our food, so we headed to the temple just in time to catch the sunset.  

we got home and josh gave me my present.  a beautiful diamond pave band to go with my ring.  i know, i know, you're supposed to get that when you get married, but i never found one i liked until just recently.  we're a year behind... so what.  but josh was so sweet to

 wrap it up in the fanciest wrapping paper he could find.  and his card... pure romance. 

*remind me to never pursue a career in hand modeling...

and then there's the tradition of eating the top of our wedding cake.  my parents were so kind to store it for us for the last year, and i'm sure they're glad to finally get it cleared out of their freezer.  surprisingly enough, the cake wasn't too bad!  lemon poppyseed cake with raspberry filling.  josh picked it.  and can i just say how beautiful i thought our cake was?  i guess my opinion is a little biased, though.  

we ate our cake while we watched our wedding video.  i seriously love our video.  i tear up every time i watch it.  my friend chris mcclain made it for us and he did a fantastic job.  and for any of you who would like to watch it, i have conveniently uploaded it to this post.  i'm sure you're all dying to check it out.  i'm not sure what order they are in.  you'll just have to watch all of them.   

now it's time to celebrate more in florida!

how do YOU study for finals??

i am a very diligent student.  i spend the majority of my time doing homework and studying to ensure that i get a's in all my classes.  i've always been that way.  but come finals week, the inevitable happens- i feel so burnt out from the entire semester that i tend to focus less on school work and more time on fun things i like to do.  finals week over the last 10 semesters (holy moly) have been spent traveling, having game nights, crafting, sleeping, having movie marathons, sledding, hot tubbing, etc.  and this finals week was no exception.  

i've cleaned my house, i've done plenty of shopping to prepare for my upcoming vacations, i've gone to bed early and gotten up late, i've made dinner (shocker, i know), and i have crafted.  and these are the things i have made in one week:

this cute wreath was our enrichment craft activity for the month.  so cute!

my dad is a big utes fan and i bought all the stuff to make him this "u" back in november for his birthday.  but i never got around to it... until now.  i think he'll love it.  
on sunday night, i got all my crafting supplies out and made these flower and ribbon bows for little baby headbands for some of my cute, pregnant friends.  i spent about 5 hours on them and ended up making about 50 of them.  this is only a small sample.  

i also made these cute fabric flowers that can clip on just about anything- your hair, a headband, a purse... whatever.  

my name is liz, and i am a craft-a-holic

i also took an impromptu trip to salt lake to see wicked.  i saw it a year ago while on our honeymoon in new york and was so excited when josh's mom kristi called me up and offered me a ticket (poor dave was sick and couldn't go).  and let me just say- it was just as good as it was the first time seeing it.  fabulous.  absolutely fabulous.  thanks again kristi for inviting me!

so now that all of my tests have been taken and my papers have been turned it, i can focus on spending the next month traveling, relaxing, and having fun with my classmates and my cute hubby.  i can't even tell you how excited i am!

one week

in one week from today... 

my first year of grad school is over...

josh and i celebrate our one year anniversary...

i leave for round two of beautiful, sunny costa rica!....

in one week from now, i will be one happy chica!

we are terrible parents

i came home from church today to a dead, floating frog. josh doesn't know yet and i feel bad i have to break the news to him when he gets home from his meetings. poor josh, and poor dead frog. he wasn't even alive long enough to get a name.

this is making me think twice about getting a puppy

easter egg-citement!

josh and i had a fun easter weekend.  josh had to work all day saturday so i decided to be productive and get some much needed cleaning done at my house and run some errands.  i woke up early and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned until everything was polished, vacuumed, and smelling good.  then i ventured to the grocery store to buy some food for our easter dinner (bad idea... lee's was having an easter egg hunt for the little tykes and the grocery store was swarming with children.  i almost ran a few over with my cart before i decided to grab the necessities and i'll return next week to do my full grocery shopping trip).  i made it to the craft store, a baby boutique, the bank, sams club, and the gas station.  when i got home, i threw together a cute wreath craft that the girls in my ward put together for an enrichment activity (i wasn't able to attend because i had to work).  i did 3 loads of laundry and i wrote 2 papers for school and worked on a powerpoint presentation.  it was probably the most productive saturday i have ever had. 

when josh got off work we headed out to the american west heritage center for baby animal days.  i have always wanted to go and this was the first year that i was in town for it!  i know, i know, we don't have any kids, but i wanted to go and i didn't care who thinks it is lame.  i had to drag josh along but i think he enjoyed himself.  we got there late and just as a storm was starting to blow in.  we played with the cute little baby farm animals until the weather wouldn't cooperate anymore.  it was nice though because all the parents took their kids home one it started sprinkling and we had a lot of the animals all to ourselves!

ok, i did not dye my hair red even though these pictures make it seem that way.  also, ignore the windblown look, i couldn't help it.  and don't mind the washed out pictures of me either (josh struggles with the camera sometimes).  in fact, just look at the animals and don't even pay attention to the faces i am pulling.  

so while we were looking at some of the reptiles, josh started talking to a lady who was selling african dwarf frogs.  you know, those frogs that are the size of a quarter and you can never hold them or else they'll die?  somehow she convinced him that he needed to purchase some.  i felt like a mom explaining to her child about how a pet is a big responsibility- you have to feed them, clean their little tank, and love them.  he agreed to do all the above and purchased 2 little guys. 

after playing with the pets we headed to dinner and returned home to dye some easter eggs.  however, the egg dyeing kit wasn't so much a dyeing kit as it was an egg painting kit-- i was quite disappointed.  i guess next year i need to read the box better.  anyway, josh and i painted away and i just need to say that we are probably the world's worst egg painters.  in my mind, i pictured these beautiful, colorful eggs with sparkles and gems on them.  ours turned out... not so much beautiful or artistic, but they were definitely colorful!

the top row were mine- "dino egg", "green blob with sparkles", "blue blob with sparkles", and "pretty in pink".  josh's are the bottom row: "watermelon", "eliza" (josh named it that after me because it was his prettiest egg and he wishes eliza was my nickname.  strange, yes), "fingerprint", and "balu."

after egg painting we headed to petsmart to find some gravel and a tree for our little frog tank.  this is how it turned out:

josh hasn't named his frogs yet- he says he needs to get to know them before he can name them.

this morning we got up and headed to church.  when we got home, the easter bunny came and brought us some eggs filled with treats, some mtn dew, and a perfect pushup.  random, but fun. 

i asked josh what he wanted for his special easter dinner and he said chicken and steak.  so i marinated some meat and we grilled up some kabobs.  we also made rosemary potatoes, a summer salad, and rolls.  it was such a delicious meal josh decided to take a picture.  this is proof that i don't make mac and cheese for every meal.  

birthday weekend

conference weekend is also known as birthday weekend at the bringhurst house. my beautiful little sisters laura and katie were both born on april 5th, but 4 years apart, and my mom's birthday is april 6th. so we always have some great family time, great food, and lots of cake and ice-cream the first week of april. too bad they're all choc-o-holics and only like chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. yuck.

my sisters have become my best friends these past few years. isn't it funny how that happens? we grow up bugging the snot out of each other and now we're tight.
laura and i spent a summer together in alaska and we definitely learned how to lean on each other for love and support when we were hating life. she is a movie quoter (one thing i am not) and knows how to make anyone laugh. she loves to travel (she got the same travel bug i have from my dad) and we are currently making plans to go to hawaii, greece, and australia. she has spent countless hours making my nails oh so pretty and i look forward to those hours of pedicure time to catch up on life, love, and stupid boys. she is a fabulous cook and made me my first cookbook when i moved away to college. she knows some of my favorite recipes by heart so i don't even have to write them down, i just text her.
katie is a mini-me. she and i have the same style. she knows that if she loves a shirt, she should probably get one for me too because most likely i'll love it too. she loves to laugh and she does so uncontrollably sometimes. she's medically minded (like me) and wants to follow in her sister's footsteps and work in the medical field one day... probably in physical therapy. she's not crafty, but no one is perfect.
my beautiful mom is fabulous too. she's one of those people who sits on the sidelines and doesn't say a whole lot but she has a heart of gold. and when she does speak up, she's so funny. she's one of those people that will do anything for the ones she loves. she has an amazing memory and always does those little things to make your day- she'll buy you those treats you love or she'll get you that cute shirt you've been looking at forever online- just because she can and she likes to. she is one of the hardest working people i know, but still makes sure to spend time with her family, friends, and her church calling. she's a great mother, wife, and friend!

my cute {tired} hubby

this is a little post dedicated to my awesome husband.  these pictures were taken a week or so ago, but they were so cute i had to post them.  he loves his sleep- he misses the luxury of sleeping in and taking frequent naps- but sleep isn't always possible between his school, work, and time spent keeping me happy.  sometimes he crashes in the most random places and at the weirdest times.  aww, he's a stud and i sure do love him!