Life Of The Jacksons

Happy New Year!

2012-01-11T13:18:00.003-07:00

I hope everyone brought in 2012 with a bang!

Jared was able to be home to bring in the new year so we decided to have a party at our new house in Belgrade. This was the first time we have had a bunch of people over so it was kind of fun to entertain that way and have the room :)

The Party was pretty low key, we had about 12-15 good friends over. we served Burgers and Brats, played Just Dance in the living room on the wii, and had beer pong in the garage. It was great! Everyone gathered in the living room and we toasted and watched the ball drop. Kisses and hugs all around!

My New Friend Andrea whom I met from work

Her Husband Brooks

As Usual, Tico is wildly popular at the party :)

Group Kitchen Conversation.

Nick & Nicole

The Makeshift Pong table

We are still fully stocked and ready for another party!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! Make 2012 GREAT!!

Random Recent Pictures

2012-01-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

New Lamp & Lantern for my bedroom. I love them, they are a cheap ross find. :)

Channy & I at the Nutcracker Ballet.

The Christmas Stroll Downtown Bozeman.

The Junkyard Bistro in Salmon Idaho. Delicious food!

Channy in her Birthday Poncho :)

Hair I did.

Crayon Art I made

Our Christmas Tree

Snow love that Jared left for me by my car

Snow storm.

Beautiful Snow covered Tree's

Icy River

Inside a car wash

Will's eye. Testing out my new lenses

Morning sunrise

NIght sky Fish eye lens

Car Wash

Jared's early Christmas

2012-01-01T18:35:00.001-07:00

We had to get Jared and early Christmas gift this year...A BRAND NEW CAR! (I totally said that out loud like I was on the price is right)

His truck has been giving him a lot of problems since we moved to Montana, and we have definitely have put more money into it than the dang thing is even worth. So when he came home from ND and it broke again he was upset that he had to fix it again. When he told me I just looked at him and said " Like hell you are paying to fix it again, I would rather put money into a new car payment then have to pay to fix that truck every time you come home." He said" Are you serious?! really?" and after that we had two days to find, get a loan, and buy a new car. I think we found a pretty dang nice one if I do say so myself.

It's a 2010 Ford Focus :)

He also got a European Mount of his first Bull Elk ever. He was super happy

Christmas, surprises, & The Like.

2012-01-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!

I had a wonderful christmas this year and I hope you all did as well.

Jared was in North Dakota working again so I wasn't planning on going home for the holiday. I was scheduled to work Christmas eve and the day after Christmas. My good friend Kallie had invited me to dinner so that was the plan this year on the day, and then Jared and I were going to have our own Christmas together when he got home from North Dakota. Well on Christmas Eve my mom called and said that my oldest sister Ashley had driven home the day before and surprised everyone. My brother was going to be home as well so I kind of wanted to join the festivities. Work on Christmas eve was such a blast. We expected to be a little bit slow so we all messed around a bit to pass the time. (We each had a client so we did actually work ;) We played Would you Rather, and put GIANT poinsettia's in our hair to take these..

Yeah we have a lot of fun!

Channy and I walked down the mall to harass a friend at Lens Crafters. We tried on glasses for like 10 minutes.

We drew straws to see who would go home early and I picked a short straw. So I was able to leave about 30 minutes early. At that moment I decided to drive home to surprise my family. I showed up at their door at 10:00 p.m., and rang the door bell with a plate of brownies in hand. It was so nice to see everyone, and their faces were priceless. It was a good welcome! My sister Brittney wasn't able to be there and we missed her greatly.

Christmas morning I went upstairs and surprised the kids that I was home. I love my Nephew's and Niece so much. They are getting so big so fast. They Trampled me going down the stairs to see if Santa was able to find them alright. At that moment sitting in the living room it finally felt like a holiday and the christmas spirit was so strong. Up until then, it was just day after day. we opened presents, ate breakfast, I did my nieces hair for church, and then I left to go see my in-laws open their gifts. We had a traditional Christmas dinner with their neighbors, opened gifts, and I left once again to do a photo shoot of my friend's beautiful one year old daughter.

Here is a sample of how they came out.

After the photo's we went back to my house and we had a glow in the dark hula hoop party in our kitchen. It was great!

We also went through some boxes of old school work and I put on a really lame puppet show with a paper bag Jester. However it did make everyone laugh until tears were streaming down my sister face. It was memories I will cherish forever.

The next day I had to wake up early and drive back to Montana to make it to work. It was a long tiring day :)

Jared got home on tuesday and we woke up Wednesday Morning to have our christmas together. we were blessed with very caring and thoughtful gifts from family and each other.

Some of my gifts. My mom also got me some cute chef things for my chef kitchen.

I decided to get my self the Doterra Lotus diffuser, so I could diffuse my essential oils in the house. I LOVE IT

Jared let me get 3 new camera lenses...3!!! I am so stoked. I got the telephoto, a 35 mm, and the macro lens.

I also had to get a new bag to house them all. He's so good to me!

The next day Jared's family came into town to see us for a couple of days. It was a nice visit even though it was short.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and was blessed immensely!

Thanksgiving.

2012-01-01T17:16:00.002-07:00

Well as behind as this post is, I feel like it must be done :)

With Jared being in North Dakota for the holiday I was not expecting to have the kind of holiday that I did.

My full intention was to sit at home alone with the birds and have a bowl of cereal or something of that sort. I had to work around the holiday so I wasn't able to go home, nor did I want to drive that far for just a few hours.

I just started my new Job at the salon and I was adjusting to everyone there and trying to make new friends. A great person named Channy invited me over to have dinner with her and her friends. I was so touched that she wanted me to join her holiday without really knowing me at all. So The morning of Thanksgiving I made some cookies to take over to the party and later that night had a feast with new buddies. We had ham instead of turkey and all of the fantastic trimmings to go with. After dinner we watched movies and hung out until about midnight. I appreciate her so much for not letting me sit at home alone.

My Chocolate brownie/cookie sandwiches with hot fudge on top. The center has a york peppermint pattie.

Thanksgiving dinner. YUM!

After I left Channy's house I went to the mall to meet up with Brittany to partake in the MADNESS that we call Black Friday! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met her in Victoria Secret's only 15 minutes after the store had opened. The line for the check out was already around the store and inching towards the door. She got her purchase and we wandered through the rest of the mall and stumbled upon this.

THE BEIBS!

So Brittany proceeded to grope him in front hundreds of people hahaha! Her mom left us because she was so embarrassed. We were just laughing hysterically. We went to Walmart after the mall so I could pick up a new Shark Mop. I highly recommend one to all of my friends and family. It cleans so well! They usually run about $80 but on black friday the last two years in a row they have been $36. It's fabulous.

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving and counted their blessing like I did.

Washington Trip Part 2

2011-11-20T14:36:00.001-07:00

Day 2 of Seattle!

A giant workable Rubix cube at the pacific science center

We love our planet!

The butterfly room was our favorite.

This one is actually a Luna moth. Adult Luna moths don't eat...in fact they don't even have a mouth. They only live for a week and their only purpose is to mate. They only fly at night so after leaving their cocoon they find a tree to perch on to let blood fill into their wings so they can even fly. It was rare to see this beauty.

I just LOVE butterflies

He was on my finger :)

The vibrations from this guitar was incredible to hear from the inside

Now this is a chess set!

Bwahahaha this blower was so funny! I loved it.

You couldn't breathe when your face was directly in the air flow

Our second Trip up the space needle. Did you know that the space needle wasn't the structure's original name?

The city day time

520 feet above the city

After the space needle we went to Pike Place Market to look around at the famous market place. Of course one of the main attractions for me was the original starbucks location

The original logo back when the siren was still a hussy.

There was a huge line into the building. Starbucks first opened in 1971 in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. Today,more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries are sharing amazing coffee. As much as I love Starbucks...the best tasting that I ever had was truly in Seattle where it was opened.

The next attraction on the list was the famous gum wall. There is one other gum wall in San Luis Obispo CA.

Parts of the wall are covered several inches thick, 15 feet high, for 50 feet long. The wall is by the box office for the market theatre, and the tradition began around 1993 when patrons of the Unexpected Productions; seattle theatresports stuck gum to the wall and placed coins in the gum blobs. Theatre workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction around 1999.

Who can forget the famous fish throwers of Seattle. They were fun to watch.

These giant pigs are all over the place, they are actually piggy banks :)

I bought my sister this beautiful bouquet of flowers at the market. She deserved them

The night before we went to seattle I was on my ipad looking for attractions that we could go see. We stumbled across this baby sized burrito place on Goby. They are a healthy mexican food restaurant called Gordito's. They have this Burrito Grande that is literally the size of a newborn baby. Of course we had to go try one :)

This was while it was cooking. Check out the tortilla compared to the normal sized ones next to it.

This isn't just an illusion. it was literally the length of my forearm.

It was delicious!

After our Seattle adventure we spent a day at the ocean. I made me miss it so much.

What a little Cracker! :)

Doing a little wave Jumping

Oh look the boys found a crab

The waves

Breezy Day. I had to take my earings off because they kept whipping me

I did a cut and color on Ashley before I left. It was so pretty.

I had such a good vacation. Thank you Ashley for having me.

Washington Vacation pt 1

2011-11-15T14:57:00.001-07:00

Last month I had the opportunity to go visit my sister in washington for the first time in the 5 years that she has lived there. They are currently trying to sell their house so I figure I had better go see if before she didn't live there anymore. I flew into Portland Oregon and we had a stop that is a must if you are in that area....The famous Voodoo Doughnuts :)

They make crazy good doughnuts...check out their website http://voodoodoughnut.com/index.php

haha this is their blunt doughnut...we told the kids it was an ice cream cone.

Bacon covered maple Bar.

The next day we went to Seattle for two days. It was so amazing spending time with my sister just her and I. we bought city passes so we could do all of the fun touristy type of stuff. Such as the seattle aquarium, the harbor tour, The Space Needle. the EMP Museum, The Pacific Science Center, and more. Our hotel was in downtown and it was less than a block from the Space Needle, we had a great view.

Feeding Fish when we got there

Tide Pools

Ring of Life

This guy was HUGE

Feeding the Octopus. They found him living under the aquarium pier. They take them to fatten them up and then release them.

Big Ol' Lobster

You can't see me!

I think Lion Fish are beautiful

These are called Sea Pens

This guy is happy to see you :)

Isn't underwater life so beautiful!

Next we went on the Argosy Harbor tour. We learned so much about Seattle!

It was windy

The City from the water.

Then we went to this Bizarre Souvenir shop

This amazing architecture is the Experience Music Project Museum.

Isn't it pretty?!

Since it is a music Museum, they have the musical roots. So cool!

I don't know what it was about actual dj equipment, but it totally changed our persona lol

Just call me DJ Sassafras

Dj bad mama jamma

The Avatar Exhibit

This is how we size up to an Avatar

The exhibit looked so awesome

The Horror Film Exhibit. Walking down to it kinda scared me lol. There was a lot of screaming and scary music. if you don't know me, I HATE HATE HATE horror films.. I would rather be laughing.

This crazy wall projector was the best of the exhibit in my opinion

This was the church room It was beautiful

We went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe Seattle that night. It was the fanciest Hard Rock I have ever been into. less rock than expected.

The Pike Place Market was across the street

After Dinner we took our 1st trip up the space needle.

The city looked stunning at night.

I had no idea that the top of the space needle was green...it looks black or blue from far away.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:40:00.003-06:00

Happy Halloween Bloggers!

I blog to you tonight dressed as little red riding hood and handing out handfuls of candy to all of the cute trick or treaters! I have been horrible at wanting to do anything for halloween this year, so I did not decorate the house or anything. I was preparing for Jared to come home tonight and had a knock on the door. I opened it up to a beautiful princess and a winnie the pooh and I literally had no candy to give them. I felt terrible as I broke their heart by sending them away. SOOOOO I rushed to the store and bought several bags of candy so that wouldn't happen again. I even tracked down those beautiful little kids and gave them each a handful. Jared and I want to carve a pumpkin when he gets home so this halloween is looking up. I did however go to a party on saturday and had a marvelous time! I hope you are all having a safe wonderfully spooky time!

My house is prepared now!

Ryan

My shoes for the night

Ryan Dominating Beer Pong

Brant & Pearl

Sexy Vampire Nicole

Joker Nick

Little red riding hood.

Nicole and I

Carving Pumpkins

Jared's infamous cannibal pumpkin

Making a haunted house

Our Door Step

Would you Like some Potatoes with that thumb?

2011-10-28T14:19:00.005-06:00

WARNING....Graphic to some!

Last Friday I was privileged to have a good friend visit me from Wyoming. I was so excited that she was coming to spend the weekend with me because I always enjoy spending time with her. When I was last in Wyoming I had promised her that I would make her scalloped potatoes if she were to ever come see me in Montana. I love the taste of scalloped potatoes and they are really easy to make, they are just time consuming. So In hopes to save me some time when I make the dish, I bought myself a mandoline slicer. For those of you who don't know what that is, it looks like this.

After Michelle had arrived friday night, I started to make dinner while she made herself at home. I began to prep the potatoes and decided to try out my new slicer as seen above (yes that was the exact one I used.) I sliced the first three potatoes with ease and was liking how quickly the process was going. On the fourth potato I was down to the last little bit and suddenly the finger guard slips and Wham! There goes the side of my thumb. It happened so fast I didn't know what to think. Immediately I started bleeding because it took off probably 4 layers of skin (I had the slicer depth pretty low). I turned on the water and applied pressure so I wouldn't make a mess all over the kitchen. Michelle came in to see if she could help with anything and I told her that I just cut myself and it was ok. I remember saying that I was a little light headed but it was no big deal. She left to change her clothes and when she came back in the room I was laying on the kitchen floor passed. out. It was so crazy because I have never passed out before in my life and it almost felt like I was in a dream. I felt like I was in my bed and that I was just waking up, when I opened my eyes I was staring at the kitchen ceiling and michelle rushed in to help. I felt so bad because that isn't how I planned to spend our evening. Michelle called for pizza and I laid on the couch to try and stop the bleeding. After about 3 hours of pressure and elevation we decided to go the the ER. Hospitals are not my thing so I was not thrilled about this but I knew that the bleeding had to stop.

They applied a pressure gauze so I couldn't feel my thumb at all and left that to sit for about an hour before a doctor came to see me. I also hadn't had a tetanus shot since I was in elementary school so they said I had to have one. When they mentioned needles I panicked, I don't know why I am so afraid of them. They numbed me up, cleaned it out, gave me a shot, and I was on my way out the door. I had to keep gauze on for 48 hours and then change the bandage everyday. I'm just glad that it wasn't worse, and I am so glad that Michelle was with me. The next night I made the potatoes again, but I used a knife like I should have in the first place :) Needless to say that slicer will probably go to the trash. Now that it's been a week my thumb is healing nicely, but it still doesn't have a lot of feeling. It was wild!

a few hours after the cut

pressure bandage

after they finally got it to stop bleeding

my 48 hour bandage

A few days after the cut

Good Bye Red

2011-10-26T14:15:00.000-06:00

Back in May I sold my beautiful red :'( I loved her to much to let montana roads ruin her. If I were still in California there would be no question to get rid of her. It was really hard and I struggled saying goodbye. Especially because she ended up going to Hillbilly Hell where she didn't have a garage and was going to get smoked in. I tried so hard not to cry all day.

I am so sorry red wherever you are!

She was so beautiful!

I loved and was so proud of this car

So sad! I was literally crying in this picture

can you see my fake happiness lol

Now I have Blue She is a 2010 Mazda 3.

We purchased blue from the same dealer that we got red from. John Patterson Tustin Mazda in California. If you need a car...call John! they are the best dealership in the entire world as far as I am concerned. They go above and beyond for their customers. We called him from Montana and said that we wanted a car. He found the car, gave us a great deal, and delivered the car to Las Vegas so we could pick it up. Then they even bought us dinner at Margaritaville to say thank you. It was so generous!

Going back to a key was super hard. I had a smart key with Red so I never took the key out of my purse for like 4 years. I am happy with Blue though.

Chapters upon Chapters

2011-10-26T13:51:00.000-06:00

In this Jackson story...a lot of chapters have been missing that haven't been available for you readers to see. I'm sorry. Again, here is a brief update on life as we know it.

Jared is still working in North Dakota at the Rig. Many days he works 24 hours or more. I think he is still enjoying it up here. The commute is long but he finally has been able to have 2 weeks off in between. He has been putting a lot of thought into it lately and has been planning to open his own business in the near future. I am so proud and appreciative of him. He is a wonderful man! Because of the time he puts into his job I have been able to take my time in finding a job that I know I will be happy at. That is so important to me and I am so grateful that he is understanding about it. Jared turned 25 this year, unfortunately on his birthday we had to spend it moving into our new house. He wasn't very happy about that. I tried really hard to make it special though, for instance we got him one of these...

In birthday cake flavor of coarse.. (isn't that the biggest snow cone you have ever seen!)

Then we spent a night out enjoying this...

Beautiful sunset

Bison Potstickers at Montana Ale Works

Ribeye with blue cheese crumbles, sauteed mushrooms, and carmelized onions. Our Favorite

Fruit Crepe for Desert.

And we got him a brand new BBQ grill, fire pit, and lounge chairs for the back yard.

Then we did more of this...

Scarying the shit out of potential renters when they toured the house while I was still packing.

And spending the entire day moving out of the condo.

We found this little guy while taking a break from cleaning the condo for 15 hours. Yeah it was spotless

Isn't like Alice in Wonderland :)

Then I spent time at the new house trying to make it home.

Here is the update with me lately.

On September 18th I retook my practical exam to get my cosmetology license. I promised to create a post telling about what happened with the 1st test and I never did. Basically the school didn't tell me that I had to prepare for the nail portion of the exam, so I was under the assumption that I did not have to do that part of the test. Needless to say I showed up unprepared and failed. I was livid! So I reapplied because no one cared to help fight my cause and I aced the test with a 98%! On the 21st I took my written exam and equally dominated it with a 92%. I was very proud of myself. I am now currently licensed for hair and nails in Montana and California. I have been able to take the opportunity to travel a little bit before starting a job. I have gone home to wyoming to see my family, and to Washington to spend time with my sister at her house. Now I am on a mission to find a salon, and do a little soul searching :)

Things are looking up

Citizen's Arrest....Almost...

2011-10-26T13:18:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I was in Walmart with Jared before going to an event downtown. We grabbed a bite to eat at the McDonalds (yeah not my first choice...ever) and was headed out of the store. Jared was walking a head of me so he did see the fiesty moment happen lol.

As I was walking out, a women walked into McDonalds with her young daughter. She had a cart full of groceries, and her purse was sitting in the child space wide open. Being the trusting country woman that she was just left her cart half in walmart and half in the restaurant and then simply walked away from it. After living in San Diego..i am not that trusting no matter where I go so being a good citizen I kept an eye on it. An older guy walked into walmart and saw the purse opportunity and thought he could get away with it. He got all suspicious and would look around then inch toward the cart. Meanwhile the lady just had her back to the cart and was ordering her dinner with no care in the world. He looked around again and inched to the cart....the whole time i was staring at him just waiting for him to touch the purse.

Let me tell you..i am a mean S.O.B :) I survived the torture of the Marine Corps and i will defending our fellow man if i have to.

Jared finally caught on that I wasn't right behind him and came back into the store looking for me. I was planted to the ground watching this guy like a hawk even though Jared was yelling at me to hurry so we wouldn't be late. After inching to the cart 3 or 4 times the idiot looked up and realized I was glaring at him. He gave me this fake smile and hesitated to turn and walk away. After a few short seconds he realized that was best for him and went into the store. I turned to Jared and he was like "Dude what was that all about? If you were a dog your hair would have been standing on end!" I just laughed and told him what happened. I was ready to go all Waterboy's mama on him and citizens arrest his ass if he touched that purse :) I strongly believe that if more people did things like that to help each other out, then maybe this world would be a better place.

moral of the story....Don't mess with me lol

Hi folks

2011-08-18T01:21:00.000-06:00

Dear beautiful blog readers,
I would like to nominate myself for the worst blogger ever for the year. Although life has been a complete mess lately, I have been feeling guilty for not updating everyone on it lol I will try to give a short version ( but you all know how I am with giving details ;) )

On the 3rd of August I completed my year of cosmetology school, 1650 hours! When I include my nail school time, then I completed 2050 hours, That is such a long time. the school didn't want me to have a graduation unless I passed my final written exam but i made sure that I did it with flying colors. Even though the graduation was totally dumb, it meant a lot to me to share it with all of my family and friends. It was nice to have a do over since Jared missed my first graduation. I orchestrated a family reunion at my house and all 16 of us crammed into my 3 bedroom condo. It was the first time in like 6 or 7 years that we were all in one location, it was wonderful! Everyone spent 4 days in Bozeman and we did outings such as going to Bozeman beach, graduation, hiking to grotto falls, walking on the paths behind the house, and taking multiple sessions of family photos. It was marvelous :)

Oh I almost forgot! Jared quit his job at Kenyon noble a little over a month ago, and he has been driving frac sand up in North Dakota at the oil rig. It takes us back to a life where he is gone for multiple weeks at a time, but it's great money and is helping us pay off debt and save up for the future. He works 2 weeks on and then 2 off, however so far it has been 3 on then 1 off, and then 2 on, and possibly 1 off again. It's crazy busy! I think he enjoys it though a lot more than what he was doing, for now anyway.

After my family left, things got crazy for me. I am having trouble with the state and getting my license (that's a different post story) and the owner of the condo we rent decided that he wanted to kick us out because we didn't want to sign another lease. ( our current lease says that we can go month to month but he wasn't satisfied with that) so I got a letter in the mail with a contract saying we had 30 days to vacate. It all hit at the same time so I have been uber stressed out trying to find a new home, pack, prepare to test, and do it all while Jared is away working. Ick! I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel though.

I have been saving up my pennies for quite some time and to reward myself during this crazy time, I bought myself an iPad2, which I am typing this blog post on :) I just love it!!!

well bloggers that has been the skinny on our recent lives. I love you all and I am sorry for abandoning you for so long. Take care all!

Pulling Life Together

2011-06-20T13:33:00.000-06:00

That's a whole lot of state!

And I was spread out through all of them :) When we moved to CA we wanted to keep our Wyoming residence to we didn't bother moving anything over.

Then after leaving the military and starting life in Montana, it didn't look very good for us.

Jared had a wyoming driver's license & plates, and a california phone number.

I had california plates & phone number, and a wyoming drivers license.

We tried to refinance our car loans when we got here and the guy just looked at us and said "I'll be honest guys, this doesn't look good. You are all over the place, it's hard to prove that it's really you."

So after months of trying to pull together, we are officially now in one state. It's the first time in 5 years since we have been that way. It makes life easier not being strung from Mexico to Canada haha

Little bit of life

2011-06-20T13:26:00.000-06:00

School has taken up so much of my time lately that by the time I get home, I just want dinner and bed. So when I find myself with a moment of alone time, I try to do something fun to de-stress a little. It's been far to long though since I have done a real blog post and I feel bad for all of you who actually care to keep up with it :)

Courtney- I have been super busy in school as far as clients go since becoming an advanced student. It has pushed me to do better and speed up my timing. I have a good request clientele now and I enjoy seeing them every so often. It's amazing the connections we make with people and just how much they open up when they are in my chair. As fun as it has been, I am very ready to be out of school. I don't have to go the full 2000 hours and I am burnt out! I see the light at the end of the tunnel though :) I only have 22 school days left. We have a few school closures in the month of July so that is putting me back a little bit more than I thought. It works out good though that way. I'm super ready for a break, and although I don't want to go back to school after the break, It makes my last day of school August 2nd (I only have to go for like an hour) then my graduation day is August 5th at 4:15. The reason it's so lucky is because my whole family can make it to support me. My first cosmetology school graduation went like this....Jared was in Iraq, my family couldn't come, and my friends' mom was nice enough to be there for me. I was an emotional wreck! I'm happy that everyone wants to come so I can change that sad memory a bit :)

Jared- Jared has been busy with work now that "summer" is in effect. He has been working 6 days a week and is feeling a little burnt out as well. He likes his job, but he has been getting prepared to go back to college and is playing with the idea of going to North Dakota to run semi up at the rigs for a bit. So far it's still an idea and no plan is set in motion. He is now clean shaven and you can tell he feels better. He never liked the long hair and beard, but he loved the reactions that people gave him while he was growing it. As soon as it was cut off you could see that he felt more confident. That brings me back to why I do my job: When you look good, you feel good.

Jared & Courtney- We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on June 2nd. I can't believe it's been that long already! A lot of stuff happened before our anniversary so we just had a quiet celebration at home. Jared sent me roses at school....they were so beautiful!!! That night we went to Montana Ale Works for dinner, Jared had a ribeye steak, and I had ribs. It was so AMAZING! We purchased some new bikes so we could get some active fun in together. For our first ride, Jared thought it would be a great idea to go 14 freakin miles. I about died hahaha! I am so out of shape it's ridiculous! Unfortunately it has rained every single day since we made our purchase, so we have only been able to go one time. At least we made it count I guess.

Tico & Kiwi- Kiwi is still recovering from her injury, but she is doing so much better and you can tell that she is happier too. I felt bad that she has been living in the mobile home since last October so we upgraded her into a slightly larger recovery cage. It's still a downgrade from the mansion, but an upgrade from the mobile home. We call it the townhouse, She seems to like it :) Tico has learned how to make a wooing noise that kiwi does. it's pretty cute when they do it together. He does it much quieter than she does though. He also learned how to make the sound of a magpie. The darn things hang out in the tree's in the backyard so he hears it a lot. We don't love that sound so much.

That is pretty much what has been happening here. We are happy, healthy, and getting by day by day. Hope all is well for everyone else

Just a quick note

2011-06-05T13:53:00.000-06:00

I've so much to tell you blogging friends! I just wanted to let you all know that you are not forgotten and that I will be writing all about it super soon. As for now, life is calling and the sun is absolutely beautiful outside....so....I am going to go play! Love you Mucho!

Guess What ya'll!

2011-04-20T21:23:00.000-06:00

I did sew in extensions for the first time EVER today!

I thought they turned out great. They don't really go into depth when they teach us extensions, we all just know that the sew in extensions exist without knowing how to do them. Thank goodness I have had them put in enough to know what it felt like, and how to do it. At first I was nervous when I saw them on the ticket, but after she sat down and I started corn rowing, it was easy breezy. I finished them in 3 hours (I thought that was awesome for my first time) and I didn't have anyone help me the entire time. I am just beaming with pride!

Want These!

2011-04-16T15:34:00.000-06:00

These are the cutest shears ever! I want them :)

Advancement.

2011-04-16T15:21:00.000-06:00

As of today I have 1,153 hours!

AND....As of yesterday I was given ADVANCEMENT!!!! :)

Here is what that means:

Once you have 500 hours left in school you can apply to be an advanced student.

When a student has reached 1500 hours (or in my case 1150) and has successfully completed all level 2

testing, they may apply for advancement based on:

• DEPENDABILITY

• RESPONSIBILITY

• MOTIVATION

• INCREASED TECHNICAL SPEED

• ABILITY TO OBTAIN REPEAT CLIENTS

• DISPLAY OF PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE AND CONDUCT AT ALL TIMES.

• MEETING ALL TERMS OF SATISFACTORY PROGRESS POLICY IN ATTENDANCE, THEORY, AND PRACTICAL WORK.

Advance students will receive a free student service every month and may wear black and white clothing.

I no longer need to get a start when I do a hair cut, I just do a consultation and start.

Today was my first day wearing white and I was super excited about it. :)

I must say, I am feeling rather proud of myself.

Utah Trip

2011-04-04T21:59:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend I was able to take some time off of school and travel to utah for my adopted little sister's wedding. It was so amazing to take some time to myself and see good friends that I haven't seen in forever! Here are some photo's from my trip.

First day of the trip, I stopped in Chubbuck Idaho to see beautiful miss Kaylee :) I couldn't drive right by her and not stop to say hello. My original plan was to stop for a couple of hours and then continue on to Logan to stay with my cousin Capri. On the drive in that direction I was informed that Capri wasn't feeling well so I had to alter my plan a little. So I was able to stay the night with Kaylee instead. We hung out for a little bit, then went out to chili's for dinner. I haven't been to a chili's in almost a year so that was nice. The next morning we got up and hung out again for a little bit before I continued my journey to Utah.

Adorable Kayden is always a delight to see!

Look at this Blonde Bombshell! I love her :) She just did a 12 week Challenge at the gym and she lost 32 pounds total! I am so proud of her, she looks amazing!

The next day I continued to Logan for the rehearsal of the wedding. Jerri got us a suite at the Hilton Inn so we could do wedding prep. The venue of her wedding was stunning, it's called Castle Manor In Logan utah...I mean look at this place...

We did a rehearsal at the venue, and then they took us to Olive Garden for the dinner. Everyone knows that I am not an Italian food fan, so I enjoyed a nice soup and salad :) After the dinner, we went back to the hotel suite and put together the table center pieces, fixed the wedding song playlist, I tweezed Jerri's eyebrows, and just did some de-stressing. It was a nice quiet evening. The next morning we were up at 6 starting the wedding preparation, and our suite was a mess lol it was a maze getting around.

Over at the venue we started getting into our dresses and setting up.

Wearing my Vibram five fingers with my dress for most of the morning.

Melissa

Amanda

Katie

Dee

Cute Rylie. Every time she saw the camera she stopped at yelled CHEESE! This was the face it produced lol

Isn't she a beautiful Bride?!

She was so excited & nervous :) it was cute

Jerri made her own wedding cake. I think it turned out nice.

Love her!

The weather was so nice! It was 75 degree's on Friday and we all were in tank tops pretty much the whole day. That was such a nice change after the cold winter we have gone through in Montana.

During the Reception we attacked their car like good bridal parties should :)

After the wedding had gotten over every one left as they had planned. Well I still had no home to go to, so I called Justin. Although Justin was in Salt lake and I would have to drive an extra 95 miles to get to him, it was totally worth it to me to see him and other friends in SLC. He was working when I arrived so I patiently sat in my car for 2 1/2 hours for him to get off. Then he took me to Dee's for dinner and we sat up talking late into the night. I have missed him! The next day I drove to West Jordan to meet up with Rylie and Jaeda. It had been literally years since I have seen Rylie so it was nice to hang out for a bit. I can't believe how big Jaeda is getting, the last time I saw her she was tiny and we made her sleep in my kitchen in her pack & play lol.

She is Beautiful just like her mom!

I did some shopping for a few hours and ate at some much missed restaurants that I haven't had in over a year. Then Later that evening Justin and I met up at the mall to do a little more shopping together.

Yum Double Double!

Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes. YUMMY!

After shopping we decided to hit the town. We met up with Rylie and went to "A bar named sue" for a couple of drinks. By midnight it was getting pretty crowded so we left and Justin took me to his favorite hang out "Try-Angles". We hung out there for a couple of hours and had to brave the roads back to the house in Snow.

Try-angles know how to do it right! lol This drink is huge!

Because of the bad weather I cut my trip short by a day, I am glad that I did though because as soon as I got home I developed a nasty cold :( It took me 500 miles about, & 7 1/2 hours to drive home...It was SOOOOO worth it though to get away and see my friends. That was just what I needed!

Day 30

2011-03-22T19:16:00.000-06:00

Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today & three good things that have happened in the past.

I have been so blessed in my life. With all the struggles, comes greatness and I have so much of that.

I got married to a wonderful man and I am so happy/blessed that he came home from Iraq and is with me every single day.

I have the most amazing friends on the planet and I am fortunate enough to have them in more than one state.

I was accepted into Cosmetology school TWICE! lol That just means I am twice as good at what I do and the career I am pursuing ;)

I hope that those who cared enough to read my blog a day learned a little about me and enjoyed my posts. Thank you readers, I love you!

Day 29

2011-03-13T20:11:00.000-06:00

Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.

Bottom Line....I can't get enough of this man and spending time with him. I love Jared so much.

Day 28

2011-03-13T19:55:00.000-06:00

Day 28 – Your favorite movie.

Favorites are the hardest questions for me to answer because I have so many things that I like. As you have noticed if you have been following my blog a day, when it asks for a favorite I just give a list instead lol. This will be the same.

The Wizard of Oz

The Hangover,

White Chicks

Old School

Disney Movies

The Great outdoors

Chicken Run

Out Cold

many many more...

Day 27

2011-03-13T19:50:00.000-06:00

Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?

2010

2011

Well in '10 my hair had extensions, it was cut short into a bob, was hot pink, emerald green, lime green, yellow, orange, and brown. I was at the heaviest point in my life topping the scale at a whopping 200 pounds. I had a lot to figure out as far as moving, my identity, Jared leaving the Marine Corps, and starting a new life.

So far in '11 My hair has been black, brown, teal, purple, and extensions get put in tomorrow :) I have lost a little weight which I am happy about, but the journey is still a long road. I am finally settled into Montana and we are trying to get life all into one state now instead of 3. I am close to completing my time in Cosmetology school and I am very happy to be close to having a career. I am realizing that I have a lot of issues that I need to deal with after life in the Marines. It's an interesting adventure so far.

Day 26

2011-03-13T19:25:00.000-06:00

Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to

This is tough because I haven't been anywhere interesting outside of the United States. I have been to California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, and Oregon. Not to many yet in my life, but the adventure is only in the beginning.

So I decided to choose a photo of my home state. This is in Yellowstone National park.

Day 25

2011-03-13T19:05:00.000-06:00

Day 25 – What’s in your purse?

LOOK AT THAT MESS!!

However it is a organized mess :) There is my wallet full of cards, that pink bag has lipsticks, clippers, files, and cuticle pushers. Of course some gloves because it's freaking cold outside. car key, lotion, bluetooth, compact, pen, and lip gloss. That's my purse!

Day 24

2011-03-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.

My husband of course! This photo is one of my favorites! It was the start to a new journey in life, for the good and the bad. I love this man.

My beautiful ring! Jared had the jewelry store lie to me once and tell me that they would have to keep it for over a month and I was so pissed off when we left the store that I started crying. Turns out he just had the diamond in the center upgraded for christmas.

Day 23

2011-03-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

Day 23 – 15 facts about you

1. I have wine drinkers taste on a beer drinkers budget. (Meaning I always want expensive shit haha)

2. I don't view myself as very talented

3. I am very hard on myself.

4. I have an obsession with weird items such as eyes, ties, handcuffs, etc..

5. I will always bend over backwards for my friends.

6. I hate the cold.

7. I obsess over being so fat but I have a hard time being motivated to change it.

8. I love spending time with Jared so much! He is my world.

9. I shower every single morning

10. I can't go a day without makeup

11. I'm ocd about having a clean house

12. Entertaining friends and family is one of our favorite things

13. I would feel so lost without my fluffy birdies

14. I have a terrible temper

15. Sometimes I just care too much!

Day 22

2011-03-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

WOW this is pretty personal...um...ok let's see...

Dear USMC,

Before you, life was much simpler. Things didn't effect me to the degree that they do now and I was a lot happier day to day. I feel that you have made me very emotional and a lot more angry than life was before. After all of those years where I had to hold everything inside so it didn't hurt Jared really broke me down. You have a lot of mean hurtful people who I am now realizing has put a huge negative effect on my life. I know you are supposed to break down the people within you to build them back up, but I feel like you broke us and never built us back up. Why must I have such a big love hate relationship with you?

Day 21

2011-03-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.

There are several for this one....

My Wonderful Husband. I am so proud of Jared and everything he has done.

My baby birds make me laugh so much.I love them

I really miss the beach. It was such a nice calm feeling being there.

Aww Jamie...my beautiful friend! I miss you so much, we had good times together

My family!

It's important to keep yourself happy in all aspects of life...this blog post could go on forever if I don't stop now.

Day 20

2011-02-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name

This one is self explanatory, It's the life of the Jackson's :) This lovely blog is where I ramble on and on and on about our every day happens in life so people can keep up with us. Not a crazy name, but it all about us haha.

Day 19

2011-02-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.

I miss my extensions so much! I like this picture because it gives me a good feeling just like I had the while sitting here. This is in Point Loma California over looking the ocean. I loved the breeze kissing my cheeks and the smell of the ocean filling my lungs. That was a good time.

Day 18

2011-02-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.

HOT WINGS!!!! They are the most scrumptious things ever and I can piranha-tize them in seconds. I know they are like the most fattening food ever but I just can't help it..I love wings.

Day 17

2011-02-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

Day 17 – A photo of you and your family

This was just on the blog recently :) This was taken in April of 2010 and the most recent family photo we have. Unfortunately Greg is missing from the shot. We hardly get the chance to get the entire family together for a photo.

Day 16

2011-02-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.

I don't have a celebrity crush, There are many attractive celebrities but not like I am completely gaga over them.

I look at it more as their talent that makes them so awesome. For example, Johnny Depp is incredible in my eyes because he is so dang versatile! It's short, sweet, and to the point but this one is definitely a hard question.

Day 15

2011-02-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house

without

Definitely my purse! It has everything I need such as my wallet, my little bag full of lipsticks, nail files, clippers, cuticle nippers, car keys, etc... Also my cell phone I never leave without that. I think every woman leaves the house with these things. It's pretty general.

Day 14

2011-02-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.

On my DVR list:

Kourtney & Kim take New York.

Holly's World

Biggest Loser

Gossip Girl

One Tree Hill.

CSI (all locations)

and usually America's Next Top Model.

I also like to watch Amazing wedding cakes and Cake boss.

Day 13

2011-02-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

Day 13 – Your favorite

musician and why?

I can't answer this. I LOVE music! I love the way it makes you feel, the way it can change your mood, and the way you can express yourself through it. Music is just overall amazing and I love it it all forms.

Day 12

2011-02-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Day 12 –

A photograph of the town you live in.

(I am doing this one a day early because I will be traveling to Wyoming this weekend and won't have my computer)

This is an arial view of Bozeman. The closest (and largest) building is the MSU campus. The white dome is a sports arena, and the tall round and rectangle buildings to the left is dorm rooms. You can see the small M up on the hill. This summer I plan to hike to that beast.

Here is a small glimpse of downtown/ Main street during the winter time. They put the christmas decorations in the middle of Bozeman Ave.

Of course there is BIG Mike, he resides at the Museum of the Rockies here in Bozeman, MT.

Day 11

2011-02-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?

I have a little of everything, here are my daily use items.

I have Mac Blush, Revlon photo ready foundation, Revlon color stay aqua mineral powder, Covergirl or Mary Kay eyeshadows, Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara, and Wet N Wild liquid eyeliner, and Mary Kay Lipstick. It's a huge stack of chaos in there but Tico loves to get in it and pull items out. He's crazy. I always give them the mascara tubes and it keeps them entertained forever!

Day 10

2011-02-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to

eat.

This one is particularly tough! I have so many places that I love to eat...I will list a few...and post a couple of pictures of the newest ones here in Bozeman.

Here are the ones I LOVE from California that I can no longer have (CA Exclusive almost)

Submarina

In N Out

Rubio's

Oscar's Mexican

Dieraberto's

Board and Brew.

Here are the ones that I love that are anywhere.

Chili's

Famous Dave's

BJ's Brewhouse.

Texas Roadhouse

Jack in the box

....

The ones that I am really liking here in Bozeman are

Old Chicago

The Garage

Day 9

2011-02-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Day 9 – A photo of the item you last
purchased.

I LOVE Bath & Body Works!!! I'm like seriously addicted. I always shop the sales so I get over $100 worth of stuff for $40. I recently got the new tropical lotions and so far, I love it.

Day 8

2011-02-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Day 8 – A song to

match your mood.

My playlist on my blog kind of reflects my moods and how I am feeling. But right now I can't stop listening to Home by Edward Sharpe & the magnetic Zeros. LOVE IT! I even have it as my ringtone.

Day 7

2011-02-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Day 7 – Your dream wedding.

I already had a pretty good wedding almost 5 years ago! Looking back there are things that I would like to change because I was so young and didn't have the money for them. However, I loved my wedding and had such a good time. If we were to do some things over, I think I would like to have a destination wedding. That way we wouldn't have to go anywhere else for the honeymoon. Plus it would be in an amazing location for photo's. Jared and I talked about renewing vows a while down the road, so maybe we will do something like that then :)

How beautiful does this destination wedding look?!

Day 6

2011-02-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.

Um...who wouldn't want an adorable little teacup monkey? I sure would! There are several exotic animals that I think would be incredible to have, but while we were at the San Diego zoo in April, I saw this tiny monkey. It could fit in the palm of your hand! Maybe someday, I will have that tiny monkey.

Day 4

2011-02-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best

friend.

Any photography with this stunning woman is one of my favorite photographs.

Jamie Whitehouse...you are an AMAZING person. I am so lucky to call you my best friend! Even though our time together wasn't that long in the same state, we had the best times. You are so real and down to earth, not to many people carry those qualities anymore. You were always there to listen to me, and we never ceased to spend time together where we weren't in tears from laughing. Being in Montana without a great friend like you has been hard. It's amazing how you find a bond with a person, and I have a good feeling that no matter where we are in life we will still remain great friends. I can't believe it's almost been a year since I have seen your face. I truly miss you and your family and I hope you know that I will be there for you no matter what.

Mucho Loves!

Aaawww Justin! you sexy beast you!

Although we aren't as close as we used to be, I still, and will always consider you one of my best friends...after all I consider you my Gusband LOL. We had so much fun in High school, and pretty much every time we get together. Definitely some of my best school memories are with you. You are the will to my grace haha Just kidding. I hope you and your bad self are doing fantastic in Utah and you better come see us in Montana soon. Love and miss you!

Day 5

2011-02-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years

ago.

This is pretty much one of my favorite photo's of all time! I loved my hair like this...plus in this photo I felt like I was pretty...I don't feel that way about myself often. Also it looks like I have a TON of hair and I so do not lol. This was taken in 2009 at Hair Drezzers on Fire in San Diego, California. If you are EVER in California and want your hair colored, go to this salon and ask for Natalie. Natalie doesn't own shears, she just does color. Sarah was an awesome cutter if you need one of those too. That is my salon advice in that area, that is until I get my beach house and have my badass salon ;)

Day 3

2011-02-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first

date.

This one is actually a hard one! I have been thinking about what to write all day long. So..lets start with this..

LOL sorry I had to include that. Jared and I have been together now for almost 7 years so it's been quite some time since we have had our first date. Even so, we never really had a formal first date to be honest. Any time that I can go out and have a good time with Jared is good enough for me. With money being so tight, we don't get to go out very often so it's always nice. If you watch MTV they have a show called Parental Control. Now THEY come up with some incredible first dates...I would like to go on some of those types for sure. ;)

Day 2

2011-02-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

Day 2 – A photo of

something you ate today

So these are a new thing from dole that I thought I would try. I am always looking for little snacks to throw in my lunch box because I don't always have time at school to sit and actually eat a meal. Having things like those breadsticks/cheese packs or a granola bar is so nice for on the go. Anyways, when I was shopping last week I walked by these awesome fruit cups and they were only $2! For only a dollar per cup I was pretty stoked about trying them. They come in Apple Cinnamon, Pineapple Mango, and Pears. I like to pop them into the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds and then mix the oats on top. Fabulous afternoon treat! :)

Day 1

2011-02-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - a photo of yourself

and a description of how your day was.

Today was pretty tiring actually! I had a test on the Rectangle wrap perm and Lightening/coloring. At the school we have 3 levels of testing that we have to complete before we can graduate. At a level 1 you have to pass each test at 80% or more. Level 2 &3 you have to pass the tests at 90% or above. Right now I am taking my level 2's as fast as I can, so I can get through the level 3's before 1650 hours. I have about 800 hours left :) I passed both the tests that I took today thank goodness. The stress is SO not good for a person lol. I was happy that it wasn't a full out blizzard today so I was able to drive to school in the first place. I hope everyone else had a good thing happen to them today too.

Blog Inspired

2011-02-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Inspired! I'm jumping on the blog a day blog train. So I am going to do the 30 day blog challenge. I think it would be great if everyone did this to get them back into the spirit of blogging....It's kind of died recently lol
Day 1 - a photo of yourself
and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 – A photo of
something you ate today.
Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first
date.
Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best
friend.
Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years
ago.
Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a
pet.
Day 7 – Your dream wedding.
Day 8 – A song to
match your mood.
Day 9 – A photo of the item you last
purchased.
Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to
eat.
Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?
Day 12 –
A photograph of the town you live in.
Day 13 – Your favorite
musician and why?
Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted
to.
Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house
without.
Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.
Day 17 – A
photo of you and your family.
Day 18 – Something you crave a
lot.
Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.
Day 20
– The meaning behind your blog name.
Day 21 – A photo of
something that makes you happy.
Day 22 – A letter to someone who
has hurt you recently.
Day 23 – 15 facts about
you.
Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to
you.
Day 25 – What’s in your purse?
Day 26 – A
photo of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day 27 – A picture of you last
year and now and how have you changed since then?
Day 28 – Your
favorite movie.
Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of
doing.
Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today & three good
things that have happened in the past

Picture Back Up

2011-01-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

Remember the photo's I talked about at Christmas? Well finally here they are! I couldn't get Blogger to upload anything so that put off getting them posted. I hope you like them.

Kaelisa

She loved this lamb. It was pretty cute watching her hug it.

Happy girl at christmas.

He was pretty excited to open his gifts.

Merry Christmas!

Love this photo!

It was so nice to spend time with family.

Wahoo! I have a minion!

Everyone sitting down to our turkey dinner.

I highlighted Jessica's hair while she was here.

We have a waffle maker :)

Christmas morning.

All my presents.

Group photo before everyone left on christmas.

He's so crazy!

Boarding upon the snow

2011-01-23T17:16:00.001-07:00

After so many years in Southern California, we are ready to hit the hill and go snowboarding again. I am a little scared :) I haven't ridden my board in over 5 years, and it wasn't looking so good. The wax was old and had turned solid white. It was so bad that I couldn't even see my flying pigs on the back! Jared had a pretty nice board but when we moved to CA, it was lost in the shuffle. We aren't sure if it got stolen, sold, or just lost. SO we had to go find a board that would fit our small budget. Lucky for us, Play it again sports was having a HUGE sale this weekend and Jared found a board that he liked. The deck was 50% off so we only had to pay $15 for it! Yay! He was able to get brand new bindings for only $30. We were so happy to get it all for under $50 so it can put us on the hill. I'm excited to go and spend quality time with Jared.

Jared's new Mountain Dew Board.

Dew board, with a Dew in hand.

Front of my board

My cute Flying Pig Snowboard.

We had to scrape/sand the wax off of the boards and then re-melt wax onto them. Ryan and Jared did that with a crappy clothes iron in the garage. Now we just have to get on the slopes.

Happy New Years

2011-01-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
╔╗╔╦══╦═╦═╦╗╔╗ ★ ★ ★
║╚╝║══║═║═║╚╝║ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ NEW YEAR ☆ 2011
╚╝╚╩╝╚╩╝╚╝═╚╝ ♥￥☆★☆★☆￥♥ ★

Can you believe the year is over already?! 2010 went by so dang fast. A lot has happened last year, highlights included

1. I left Eufora the end of March

2. Had a family vacation the end of March/beginning of April

3. I moved from California to Wyoming in April.

4. Spent almost 2 months away from Jared while waiting for his release from the Marines.

5. Jared was given medical retirement and moved to Wyoming the end of May.

6. Jared & I spent our 4th anniversary in Island park Idaho at his Aunt's cabin

7. Spent a week in Montana looking for a house, a job, and school. Successfully found them :)

8. Moved into our Montana home in July.

9. Jared started at Kenyon Noble as a cement truck driver, a month later he moved to delivery in the lumber yard. He has been there for 5 months and loves it.

10. I started at cosmetology school again on August 3rd. I love it, I can't wait to be finished and working in a salon.

Well that has been it really. After starting school I have been so busy that nothing else too exciting has happend. Does everyone have a good resolution? This year I really want to try to get back to my healthy weight. I am so sick of being fat :( I also want to try to not be so hard on myself. I am totally my hardest critic and I have to remember that I am learning new things so I have to give it time to grow. I hope you all had a great New Year's. Jared and I just hung out and didn't do anything but watch the ball drop.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

I want to know what everyone did and what their favorite Christmas gift was. :)
Our christmas was nice and casual. Since Jared had to work on christmas eve and the following monday, we couldn't travel to spend it with family. So the family came to us :) Jared's brother William is getting ready to leave for a mormon mission so this was his last christmas with everyone for the next two years. Jared's family (minus his dad) traveled to our house on the 23rd. Early that morning we woke up to go out to breakfast with our brother in law. Besides the extra early, it was nice to have breakfast before school. I usually choose sleep over eating lol. That night his mom took everyone out to eat at Applebee's and we had a pretend christmas that night for his sister. I took some great pictures of their daughter Kaelisa. It was great to have everyone together! It's been a long time since that has happened.
On Christmas eve Jared went to work while the rest of us spent time together. I gave Trevor (our brother in law) a hair cut in the morning, started a huge turkey dinner, and then highlighted Jessica's hair. It was so fun and busy! We ate dinner and then Jessica & Trevor left to spend christmas in Star Valley with his family. The rest of us played some intense rounds of pictionary and card games until about 11:30. What a great day it was.
Christmas morning we slept in a little and opened our gifts around 10. Jared got a waffle maker so we had that for breakfast. I gave him a Yoshi blade because he was wanting one for so long, and let me tell you, that bugger is SHARP! It looks like a toy blade but holy cow. I recommend it! After breakfast we watched the Sorcerer's Apprentice and then mama Maud and Will left back to Star Valley around 3. The rest of the day Jared and I played Spyro on the wii and just hung out. I have been so busy since school started that having a long break has been super awesome.

On going battle..

2010-12-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

It's been no secret to you readers, or anyone else that knows me, That I have been struggling with my weight since getting married 4 1/2 years ago. With the military stress I blew up like a balloon and getting it off has been hell/ non-existant. I wish I could say it was just 5 pounds or so...but it wasn't...it was 65 or more. At my heaviest I was a horrific 200 pounds. That's a 70 pound weight gain since the day I said "I Do". It showed so bad in pictures and I felt so helpless. Even when I was going to the gym every night for an hour it wasn't coming off and I was ready to give up. I still am using my shape up shoes every day at school and since I stand litterally 8 hours a day I think that has been helping.

WELL.....I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT I AM...

187!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not seen the 180's in like 2 years so I am very proud. I still have forever to get to my goal but I was so excited that I had to share.

December Overview

2010-12-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Happy Holidays everyone! Did everyone have a fantastic December season and Christmas? I for sure had mixed feelings about this year, up until a few days before christmas, it didn't feel like it was here or that it was that time of year at all. Let me catch you all up on my December review...

My how busy I have been still, I feel like I don't have time for anything because I piled myself with side projects that I wanted to get done before the holiday. Despite feeling like I am slightly drowning, I have had so much fun with them. I have officially finished my family vacation dvd that I started back in May. It was getting to the point where I was tweaking it to death and not getting the result I wanted so I had to let it go before I drove myself insane. It was mainly one certain video clip within the video that was giving me trouble. No matter what I did the audio was slightly off in one part of the clip. After like 3 mock up dvd's I had to let it slide before I ran out of disc's and time. I didn't get the dvd in the mail before christmas but I think it will be a great gift for my family anyway. Here is a picture of the finished result :)

This was the mock up of the dvd case that I made. In the center it had a title bar though.

Since I got my professional camera last year I have been dabbling in photography as a hobby. On December 18th Jared and I drove to Island park to meet Jerri and her Fiance Matt at Aunt Sandra's cabin to take her engagement photo's. Wow! What a beautiful setting! Island Park Idaho had so much snow it was crazy. The way it dusted the tree's that surrounded the cabin though was such a magical sight so to speak. Each flake sparkled so bright. I think the pictures turned out great, and I am so happy for them. When we arrived to the cabin at midnight we had to dig our way in. It was a good 4 feet at least. I love their cabin and I appreciate them so much for letting us use it. Here are a few of the shots I took. The one's with Jared were taken with a cell phone through a windshield so they aren't the greatest.

Beginning the 1 hr 30 min dig into the cabin.

Still workin' on it.

Finally finished.

School has been busy too. There are a few days where we have been super slow, but for the most part I have been keeping busy. I am finally getting a request clientele. It's nice knowing that people like me enough that they want to come back to me. For the Christmas season we were able to wear red and green shirts at school. It was such a nice change from solid black, you have no idea! We also did Avant Garde type style hair aka: Cindy lou who kind of. Here are some of the fun things I did.

My version of a christmas tree

I thought it turned out pretty good.

The only thing holding the hair is bobby pins and hair spray, and none of it was done with a curling iron. I just molded with my fingers.

Check this post again soon...I have another fun Avant Garde style to share with you.

More to come....

Quietly gave Thanks, and more..

2010-12-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Seeing as it's December 12th, I figured I had better catch up on the end of Novemeber festivities.

Our Thanksgiving was extremely quiet...maybe because I spent almost the entire day alone while Jared was out hunting haha. We didn't even start a dinner until after 3:00 pm and we didn't eat until 7. We normally pull out all of the fancy trimmings and what nots even for just the two of us. This year we did not. In fact, I didn't even take a single photograph, you all know that is just not like me. But we gave thanks anyway and took some time to reflect on our blessings and how much we appreciate everything.

After thanksgiving I have still been very very busy with life. School is going well, I now only have 1000 hours left and have been attending for 5 months. I am starting to see improvements on my abilities and timing. It's a good feeling! I am still a little stressed though because I have less time to pick it up than the other girls in my class and I am starting to double up on testing so I make sure that I make it through. I made a decision when I came onto the floor that I would save all of my tips and then cash them in for something awesome when I graduate. So far I think my count is going fantastic, I am up to $130 since October. Not bad for a dollar here and there :)

I am still working on a christmas project that I started like 3 or 4 months ago. I am making our family vacation pictures/movies into a dvd set to music. It's been a LONG process but I am almost finished. It looked so good in my opinion :)

My super awesome adopted little sister also just told me that is getting married last week. So now I am taking on the project of being a bridesmaid, taking/editing her engagements & bridal photo's, and fixing the hair for the wedding. I am so excited for her and can't wait to do it all.

Jared is still scruffy as ever and is still enjoying working at Kenyon Noble as their delievery driver. He was gone every second he could during hunting season and came home with a few deer because of it. He was pretty proud :) We had to buy a freezer as his christmas present to put the meat in. It will come in handy and save us some money. Especially because we can stock up more at Costco because we will have the room.

well that is pretty much it so far I think, I will post a picture update later.

As close to Halloween as I got.

2010-11-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

Normally for halloween while in california we would go to bates nut farm to pick our pumpkins out, have a pumpkin carving party, mabye make some pie, and think about dressing up. This year we didn't have any of that. Instead Jared went to Wyoming to go hunting, and I was left to celebrate alone. I didn't plan on doing anything but we were allowed to dress up at school and the day before they had a halloween costume contest with Tim Burton characters. That contest really got me in the mood so I decided to pull out an outift the night before. I'm really glad I participated because it was the closest to halloween as I got.

The beginning of the Corpse Bride.

The workings of Cheshire Cat.

Putting together Edward Scissor hands

Edward Finished.

When Mar's Attacks girl start.

It doesn't look like Tim Burton's character..but this was Sammantha's version of Mad Hatter.

Mad Hatter.

Corpse Bride all finished

Cheshire Cat all finished

All of the contest Characters finished. The creators did an amazing job!

All of us who dressed up for the day.

Mario & Luigi Instructors

Mickey the Zebra & Courtney the cop

Who doesn't love Lucy? I know I do!

Look out little Red!

Resident bad girls. Rachel & Roxanne

I got that Punker!

Kali, Klarisa, Lynde, and Jaycee.

On Halloween day I watched old time halloween favorites such as Hocus Pocas and Halloweentown 1,2,3 and I ordered myself a pizza. Wasn't how I would have pictured the night, but it was fun none the less. Even though I didn't hand out candy I saw some adorable trick or treators. I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

I spoke too soon..

2010-11-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

The day I spoke of my perfect school record...It came crumbling down. The flu had hit me...and hit me hard! It started in my nose and crept it's way to my throat. ICK! I felt so weak it was crazy. It hurt to chewy my gummy vitamins because of how weak I felt. I decided to spend the day in bed and miss school. Not something I wanted to do, but I couldn't have handled the day doing hair in the condition I was in. Plus it wouldn't be fair of me to go to school and spread the cold around, after all that is how I got the cold. :( So now I sit blogging curled up in my blanket, missing not only one, but TWO days of school. Thank goodness for me though that I am way above my contract so I could afford to miss a few days. Also it's nail week so I am not missing theory either because I couldn't participate anyway. I drugged up on nyquil and slept in until 1:30 trying to kick this nasty virus. If any of you readers are going through this right now I hope that you get better soon and I will send you good thoughts. Please do the same for me ;)

As will all good situations in life there is the bad. We must take them in and see the positive from it. Although I am sick and feel like I have been run over, it has given me the time to get some well needed rest. I feel like I have been going and going and going with no time to stop and recover. I'm sure that added to how I got sick in the first place. It has also given me the chance to catch up on blog reading and posting as well. I didn't get to read everyone's that I missed over the last 3 months, but I read for hours until I was satisfied. I love that blogging is a way to keep in touch with friends and family. It makes you feel closer and more a part of their life if you don't seem them on a daily basis. I for sure am putting that on my thankful list this year.

Speak of being thankful, we might have finally found a plan for the holiday. :) Jared's work gave him a gift certificate for a 12-14 lb turkey with his paycheck this time around. Those buggers get expensive so we were certainly excited about it. We think we might travel to spend thanksgiving with family this year though. (really we just don't want to cook haha) What is everyone else's plan for turkey day? Let me know!

M.I.A (long one..sorry guys)

2010-11-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Just like my last several months of posts I am going to start with an apology. How busy life has been since I have started school! I have been looking at my blog and seeing the pathetic slip of posts since the month of August, I still haven't ever gotten caught up with reading everyone else's posts. Lets see, let me try to catch up a bit.

The time has been passing me more quickly this year than any year past. I feel like it should still be March and I was just leaving California. I can't believe that is has already been 5 months since moving into our home in Bozeman. I was cutting a client's hair yesterday and they asked me if I had plans for thanksgiving. I told her no that I haven't even thought about it. She quickly reminded me that it was only 2 weeks off and I should think of making a plan...Geez didn't we just start October? Yeah apparently that month slipped by me as well.

Jared is doing well. Scruffy as ever, he is now 6 months into his hair grow experiment. (YAY HALF DONE!) I wouldn't mind the beard as much if it was well manicured, but since there is absolutely no shears to touch it, it remains wild as ever. Jared is a workaholic to say the least. Since switching his job within the company in July he has worked every single saturday since. His job is to be their truck driver, but with the big hail storm back in June he has been doing incredible amounts of shingle jobs with Ryan. He did the math and he lifts over 1 ton of shingles in a single 12 hours. He is loosing weight and looks great. I am very proud of him.

I am continuing to do well in school. I am holding a personal record I set for myself, that makes me very proud. I have not missed a single day of school since I started on August 3rd. I have been on the clinic floor for over a month and can now do cut, color, and perms on the public. At first I hated cutting so very much. I thought I would like it a lot more than I did. It would frustrate me to the point that I wanted to cry every single time I got into the cut. But I later discovered that it was just cutting on a mannequin that drove me insane. I started cutting on the public and I picked it up rather fast. I think a lot of it has to do with the interaction that you get with the person. I now have a least 2 or 3 clients a day. :) I am getting pretty fierce at men's cuts lol I do a lot of those. I had my first experience with extremely thick asian hair. WOW! I cut more hair off of that guy than I had on my whole head, and he still had triple the amount than I do. After sweeping it up it looked like a small black dog chilling in the corner haha. Unfortunately I experienced my first cut during his hair cut. Everything was going quite well until the thinning process. I was using my thinning shears and when I went to palm them they slipped off my finger just enough that they were going to fall. I went to catch them and the blades bit down on my flesh in the process. It was so fast that it wasn't painful but it was quick to bleed. The after math looked like a small shark bite haha the serrated edge looked like teeth and somehow it was curved. CRAZY. I am loving it though now that I am busy working with the public.

Winter has officially hit Bozeman. We are freezing our Southern Californian Nay Nay's off here because of it too. The bird's hate the cold and stay constantly fluffy. The day the first blizzard hit I took them to the window to look out. Tico freaked and did everything in his power to get away. The first storm decided to come the day that I had to travel to Helena to take my national nail exam for Montana. When I woke up that morning it was just a light rain but after jumping out of the shower is had turned to fluffy white flakes that accumulated so fast! I wasn't thrilled about driving in that, my poor Mazda RX-8 and I was almost in tears. :) The further away I got from Bozeman the better the weather was though. I passed my test with flying colors and I am now licensed in two states. I am happy about that! I am still trying to sell my beautiful car, I am very unsuccessful with it though at the moment. A winter area just isn't the place for such a magnificent sports car lol. I am at the point that I think we will travel to an area where snow doesn't happen and find something else to drive back. It's just too beautiful to get ruined by a winter storm.

With all of that being said, I think you all are just about caught up on our life. We have been very fortunate to have several visitors, which we love. We are still adjusting to our new life and taking all of it's up's and down's with stride. I think I am having a lot harder time doing that than Jared is though. A bit of identity crisis has been going on inside my head. :) I haven't abondoned you all though and I am sorry that I have been such a stranger. I will try to be better again.

Much Love,

Her name is Mindy

2010-11-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know about the rest of you readers, but I am a HUGE "coffee shop" music fan as I like to call it. I love the soft melodies and perfect words that each song possesses, especially when I am stressed or feeling down, or if I just want to unwind and get some work done. My new favorite coffee shop artist is Mindy Gledhill. Her album Anchor is pretty much amazing! I highly reccomend that you all take a listen. I even included one of her songs on my blog for sampling. Jillian Edwards is another new artist that I have had on my playlist. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

More Dancing Fun!

2010-10-19T23:21:00.000-06:00

I broke down and bought Just Dance 2! I love that game so much, it's super fun and I get a great workout! Here are a couple video's from the 1st Just Dance that my friend and I were doing. Nothing like a good game night with buddies, completed with Pina Colada's :)

Cotton Eyed Joe

Pump Up the Jam!

Birthday Gun and Bad Mouths.

2010-09-25T13:15:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Jared wanted me to go shoot his new gun with him really badly, so we piled in the truck and headed up into the mountain. Ryan and Jared shot the gun for a while and I was hoping to get away without him making me, I wasn't so lucky. He kept telling me how awesome it was, and how it didn't kick at all because the recoil magically took all of the impact, and blah blah blah. Well I held it tight up against my shoulder not wanting to pull the trigger, and pulled it anyway. Immediately the stupid thing kicked back and smacked me really hard on the Clavical. I was so pissed and instantly a huge string of foul language shot out of my mouth without a second thought. :S I hate guns so much, they are scary.

Isnt it beautiful?

He's so Badass ;)

I really liked this Stump.

I think the moss on the tree's is facinating

Max

His new baby

The Boys Shooting

Me being afraid. Dang gun

Photo update for August

2010-09-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

This is the rug walking into the school. Kind of neat

Air forming in basics class

Break time! Left to Right: Kallie, Heather, Sydney, and me

Heather and I

This is Tim. He is the instructor that we harass the most, but we love him.;)

Camping with Jared

Yeah we be crazy

Finger 11 and Hinder concert. It was so good

Jared and I after the concert

Jared's 24th Birthday

I put tiny guns on the cake because that is the only thing he got for his birthday.

Rainbow in the clouds.

Kelsey & Suzanne at the wax party

Waxin it up

Sydney and I getting the wax off

Mama Maud came to visit us :)

Roller set from school

Kiwi just kickin' it on the couch with Dad

Jared's new gun that he got for his bday.

Doing what I do best...Hair!

I made them a beautiful shade of pink and blue. haha

Pimp Cups!

Chillin' with my Homies

I love crazy friends :)

I hope you enjoyed!

UM......Yeah.....

2010-09-14T19:43:00.000-06:00

The title pretty much sums it up readers. I super apologize for the abandonment over the last 7 weeks!

7 WEEKS!!!! I can't believe it..I have been in school that long already. That would put me at about 224 hours down, only 1,426 left and I am done :) School pretty much takes up all of my time now, but I am loving it...most of the time! ;) The month of August was completely taken up by school, getting back into the groove was pretty hard for me I wont lie. I mean gosh it has been almost 5 years since I have been in school besides Nail school. I didn't have nearly as much homework during that as I do now. The first two weeks consisted of entirely bookwork. The days were long and by the time I went home for the night my body was screaming at me because of the tiny desks they have. The instructors are pretty awesome and they do the best they can to make it a fun learning experience. People really write off the beauty industry like it isn't a hard profession. Let me tell you though, those so called "Dumb Blondes who can't do anything other than hair school" know their shit! Afterall she can name off the 14 mouth muscles and their function...can you? haha. That's right, Cosmetology includes things like microbiology, anatomy, physiology, thricology, chemistry, Geometry, so on and so forth. Crazy stuff.

Over the last 7 weeks though I have learned how to cut, perm, style, and relax hair. Pretty soon I will be out on the clinic floor working on the public. I'm excited and scared at the same time :) I have only had one major bad day. There is one haircut that is super difficult and I was getting so frustrated that I burst into tears. Can we say EMBARASSING?! It's been really nice to finally have some friends too. I have been hanging out with them a lot when I am not in school. Really by the time I get home from school I just don't want to think anymore...that is a lot of where the blog neglect comes from. We have had several parties at my house including waxing, nails, dinner, wii, dancing, sewing and much more :) It's been pretty awesome. That pretty much sums up the last month + of my life. Just school, friends, hanging out with Jared, trying to sell my car still.... Oh we did have a temporary roomate over that course of time as well. Ryan needed a place to stay while his Girlfriend left for school. We had the extra room so he moved in and has been kickin it ever since. He just found a place though so we will be able to have our house to ourselves again. That is kinda nice I wont lie haha. Mucho Love readers I will post more I promise!!!!!! Things are kind of slowing down so that will help give me more chances to sit down and share my life.

P.s. Do you love the club jams on the playlist...I am obessed! They have a 5:00 bump in the truck on the radio that I listen to on my way home from school, I am a car dancing FOOL!

JUST DANCE! :)

2010-09-12T14:57:00.000-06:00

I LOVE the game Just Dance on the wii! My friend from school let me borrow it and I have been playing it a lot. I seriously need to just give it back and buy my own lol. It's a great party game and a great workout all at the same time.....Plus you get laughs like this....

Grotto Falls

2010-07-30T16:25:00.000-06:00

Close to our house there are several different waterfalls that you can drive/hike up to. While Will and Marshall were here, we decided to go to Grotto Falls. :) We got subway sandwiches and headed up into the hills. They have the path paved up until you get to the lake but after that it's about a 2 miles drive to the parking lot type area, and then a mile hike up to falls from there. It was absolutely beautiful. The only thing I didnt like, was the amount of horse flies trying to attack you the whole time. We can't wait to hike to the other falls before summer ends.

The trail was beautiful!

Everyone took the other trail so I was left to enjoy it alone. :)

This rock looked SOOOO cool!

At last we reached Grotto Falls!

Jared dove into the glacier like water SEVERAL times. We all thought he was crazy.

Ryan's face should give you an idea of how cold it was...

And Williams....

And Mckenna's...

Even Max got in the water and didn't like how cold it was. He wanted to join in and play but instead he stayed on the rock for fear that the water would touch his junk. Can't say that I blame the dog!

It was so pretty!

Jared and I

2010 Mud Bog

2010-07-30T15:56:00.000-06:00

Last year Jared was able to take a trip to Montana to scope out places for us to live. He was able to attend the mud bog that they have at the fair every year and he wanted to make sure he was in it this year. So his brother came up to watch the event and Jared drove in two different divisions. He took his Dodge Dakota that he drives every day in the stock class, and a friends Jeep Wagoneer in the 44 and up class. I guess last year they just had a straight up bog of mud, but this year they did what they call the hill and hole to make it harder? I wished they just had the bog personally that was it ran a lot smoother instead of having to wait for them to dig it deeper for each class. Jared did pretty good I thought, He didn't get stuck at all, and he placed 7th in the stock class and 6th in the 44+. We all got a little sun and had a pretty good day!

Jared at the starting line.

And he's off!!

Doing well..

Dives back into the hole.

But makes it out in the end. :) YAY JARED!

This truck went up on one of the hills and when he came down it broke his tire. Yikes

Jared loved this truck. He came to the event last year unexpectedly and now he is the official mud mixer.

Ryan, Mckenna, and Eric racing the Wagoneer.

They took 3rd Place.

Jared's run...

Jared, William, & Marshall Racing the Wagoneer

He was a happy Hubs!

They enjoyed the ride too!

Jared got splattered with mud watching another racer.

Jared and the Wagoneer.

Couch Fires.

2010-07-30T15:21:00.000-06:00

Over the past weekend Jared's little brother came to visit us! It was nice to have our first visitor ever in our new Montana home. Our friends Ryan & Mckenna had some furniture that they didnt like, so they decided that they wanted to burn it rather than throw it away, or pack it up when they moved out this week. So later in the evening we through the furniture off the 3rd floor balcony and got it all ready for the fire. Someone called the cops on us for throwing a couch out the window...they thought that there was a fight or something domestic happening. :) Here is that fun event.

Jared and Ryan..Very ready to burn something lol

The boys ready to torch the couch

Poor Mckenna got hit in the face with a board. It resulted in a bloody nose & two black eyes.

Marshall taking a flying leap over the flames

William's flame jump

No Fear with Ryan

Jared looks like he wants to pounce like a puma!

William & Marshall

Love

Will kicked the fire and this was the sparks :)

When Jared kicked it, it looked like pixie dust.

I love the glow of the fire.

Mckenna, Ryan, Me, Jared, Marshall, & William.