Surprise box from my sweetie September.23.2011

So a few weeks ago Nate wrote to me and said his suitcase was getting huge from all my letters so I told him to just ship them to me and I'll store them for him! Well my box arrived today, my mom brought it in while I was packing up the truck with my stuff for moving in to UW...figuring it was just letters I told her to put it on my bed and I'd open it when we got back....to my surprise...

It was filled with awesome birthday goodies for me : D (although i opened it a bit early seeing as my birthday isn't till thursday september 29 but in my defense I thought it was just letters)

It was amazing-inside was a birthday sign and a birthday card-him admitting I am WAY better and making packages which made me giggle!

Two cds-one from his 2010 mission conference that has photos from the mission which was cool to see! the other is his favorite christmas cd but he can't listen to it while he is out (such a good missionary I have!) so he sent it to me to enjoy :)

Two tie pocket things-they had come with the ties but he doesn't wear them so he figured I could hold on to them ( i think i'm being used lol)

His mission motto (that white piece of paper on the bottom) he has it memorized (my man is a nerd lol) and so he wanted to share it with me (AHH-i'm a sap i know lol)

a BIG bag of starburts-fiesta flavored which was interesting but they are my fav so it was still yummy!

that orange thing is mexican cookie/crackers..which you add carmel onto (also included just not in photo, my bad) which is supposed to be really good :)

and the best gift of all.....PHOTOS!!!! he sent me every single photo he has taken while out on his mission (sadly that is only about 25 lol but I was still happy!)

oh p.s. Every gift had a sticky note on it-I've so corrupted my man, and I LOVE IT :)

 Under all my gifts were the letters I have sent him since August of 2010...for some odd reason his letters take up less space then mine lol..

 Here is my signs..now hanging in my dorm room, my birthday isn't until thursday the 29th but eh what the heck? ;p

 The sweet treats my boy gave me (ha there is the carmel) I'm excited to try it out! And half of that bag of starbursts is already gone...hehehehe ;)

Thank you Elder Schott for being so sweet and remembering my birthday, I love you so much! I can't wait til next year when I get to spend it with you but since you are gone I get all the treats to myself lol ;p

Marini Time September.22.2011

 The Marinis-Alec (8), Zack (6), Bryce (4), and Kenzie (2)

Ah I love these little kids, so does my brother and since he was in town we went over to say hi :)

The kids were out riding their bikes so we sat outside with their mom Ember and chatted, introduced Brandon's new wife Korrine to everyone....then the fun began

 Brandon helped Kenzie ride the "big boys" bike...give her a few months and she will be riding that in no time, or lower the seat ;p

 The boys crawled up, down, and all over Brandon-now that they are big they are like monkeys lol!

 Then Bryce complained that it was "too hot" (yes you read that right, it was TOO HOT in Washington, in SEPTEMBER!!!) It was about 80 or so outside so Ember decided to cool him off ;) We had a good laugh!

 Then Brandon complained (jokingly) that he was too tired (they had just driven 13 hours from Utah to get here) so I told him to hop on my back and I'd carry him (I got the guns ;p) Funny story about this picture though, I had recently found one just like this but of us from about 8 years ago lol so it was definitely time for a new one :)

My first quilt September 2011

So my sister started on my quilt for me for my birthday, she and I got to talking and we thought I should do one for Nate's Christmas gift. I have never made a actual quilt before (I attempted once in YW's and that failed lol) so I was hesitant to do it but I figured I had my sister who is awesome at it, her machine, and lots of time to make it work (I was going to be in Utah for another week plus it was only September and Christmas was three months away lol)

So I headed out to Material Girls in South Jordan, Utah and picked out my pattern and started getting material that would work with it-since I was doing it for a guy I wanted to make sure it wasn't "cute" lol

Alrighty so here is a progression of my first quilt:

Step 1. Find pattern & pick out material (only took me about 3 days to pick a pattern online & an hour to pick out fabric...good time right? lol)

Step 2. Cut out ALL the fabric and since I was making it for my 6'2 giant I doubled everything so I had to do 2x the cutting lol

Step 3. Sew the blocks together, assembly was sewing the red center blocks to the two sides then sewing the top and bottom to it.

 Again since I doubled it this step took some time, I had some assistance from Britt (my sis) while I was at the gym she did the rest of the squares :) oh and a picture of me to prove I actually did sew the quilt didn't just buy it lol!

 All the blocks sewn together and the white centers cut out

 Step 4 & 5 were to cut the gray squares and white squares (above) and sew them into different strips

Step 6. Lay them out and arrange them into a design I liked (which was possibly the hardest part lol)

 Step 7. Sew each row together then sew them all together

 Its all sewn :)

 Step 8 Lay backing down and see how it aligns with top

 Time escaped from me in Utah and sadly I had to leave BUT a lady in my ward had her daughters in town with their sewing machines (yay!) and they offered to help me finish it up :)

Step 9 Place badding in and pin everywhere!!!!

Step 10 Start sewing lines every 2-4'' apart till you hit the other side :)

Step 11 lay quilt back on table and start pinning the binding

Step 12 sew one side of the binding down

Step 13 flip quilt over and pin the sucker down lol

Step 14 Sew up the other side of the binding

 And WALA!!! Its all done! My very first quilt!!!!

I can't wait to send this quilt to Nate :) I hope he loves it-I sure do lol It was a long and difficult journey but I am really happy I decided to do it. I learned a little more about patience, got some skills with the sewing machine, and had some awesome times with my sister chatting it up as we sewed :) Thank you Britt for being so patient and understanding with me through this and always helping or answering my questions whenever I needed it :) Love you!

What's better than____?

What's better than 300 days left???

 Oh just 299 days left ;) Ya I know its only one day and all but for an MG going from the 300's to the 200's is a big deal! One day closer to Elder Schott being home! 

Goodbye 300's hello 200's be good to me please and have them fly by :)

Sam's Farewell September.18.2011

Well I must say there is never a dull moment in the Shumate household...what an exciting farewell lol! All of Sam's family got the chance to get together this weekend for their last family event before he heads off to Brazil on October 4 to serve the Lord for two years (Go MISSIONARIES Go!)
I've known Sam since I moved back to Washington, he's been one of my best buds :) I can't believe he is old enough to head off on his mission (I actually thought he was prank calling me when he told me about his mission lol) Now that my youngest friend Sam is  heading out on his mission I feel old lol, I mean I'm almost a year older than him so I knew this day would come eventually but last night as I sat there it hit me that man I'm getting old! lol ;)
Sammy's family are all characters lol, I know his older brother Andy quite well and he is down in Rexburg so it was awesome to catch up with him tonight (he is the one pictured with me in some of the photos) Sam and I are basically cheeseballs-I'm going to miss that kid for sure but I'm so proud of him :)

Congrats again Sam to choosing to serve the Lord and go out to Brazil to preach the gospel to those who are ready to learn there, you will be amazing! Its going to be the best two years of your life and you are going to be an incredible missionary!

I'll see you in two years bud :)

Tea Time September.17.2011

I have the best people in  my life! They so spoil me :) Today my mom and good friend Lora took me out to a little place called Steeped in Comfort. 

My mom and Lora had been there before but this was my first time so I was a newbie to the whole tea world :)

 So they have some really yummy non-caffeine tea that we tried, I got peach & mango, mom got raspberry and Lora's was called World Peace! We each got our own teapot full of our own tea plus they even had sugar cubes that definitely added to the tea ;)

 They spoiled me with the Queen's treatment-we got the tray of food brought to us with layers of food :) First had mini sandwiches, second scones, and third had desserts :)

 Mom, me, and Lora

I had a total blast today-thanks to both of you for not only taking me to this awesome experience but also being such great people to chat with :) I love you both, its always nice to have a girls day and being with both of you totally made it fantastic!!! I hope we can do it again soon!

Hang Ten September.14.2011

Hang (in there) 10 more months because Elder Schott will be: 

I woke up this morning & leaped out of bed (literally!) I jumped up and ran over to my calender to mark off the date and complete another row!!! I love doing that :)

 today marks 14 months COMPLETE of serving your mission Elder Schott, I don't really believe you've been out that long....but then again I kinda do ;)

 But I can't believe you come home in 10 months....I LOVE the idea of being able to actually count the number of months left on my fingers...:)

 So I have to admit, I kinda love cameroid.com because it lets me do awesome photos-like the this one (below) I found the #10 ball ;) I'm a dork I know lol

 oh ya also WOW 10 months to go...it blows my mind :) I can't believe I'll get to see him again so soon...10 months, roughly 40 weeks, getting close to being in the 200's for days AHHHHHHHHH okay mini freak out is over! This girl is stoked to see her boy again (if you couldn't tell lol) Keep up your awesome work Elder Schott and I'll see you in 10 :)

Returning to the field September.13.2011

Tonight I went to the Washington High School soccer game at the Stadium. It felt weird to return to the field not suited up ready to play :/ I also felt really old when I got there and didn't know practically anyone on the team!!! A lot has changed in the two years I've been out of high school! 

 The team is looking great this year-when I got there the score was 1-1..and defense was keeping strong and offense was pressing hard to get towards the goal!

 The girls kept moving but at half they were behind 3-1. After halftime they came back strong and ended up scoring 4 goals and finished up winning the game 5-3 :) woohoo!!! Go Lady Patriots :) Made me proud to be an Alumni of WHS :)

Brunch with the MG's September.10.2011

So with my mommie in town and the siblings gone for the weekend we got the house to ourselves :) So what else is there to do but to invite Jenna and Cara over for breakfast?!?! 

My mom and I had taken Jaxson and Brooklyn to Walmart on Friday to grab some supplies to make these girlies a brunch on Saturday morning!

We had decided to make it a jammies brunch which was nice (didn't have to get up and get dressed lol, I approve!)

The girls came over at ten :)

 We had pancakes (had the girls try banana pancakes for the first time!), sausage, eggs, and homemade potatoes ( I love my mommie for being so awesome to make us food!) It was all delicious!

 Jenna (above) and Cara (below) are simply amazing. We chatted, giggled, and learned a bit more about each other (with my mom there the girls got to learn a bit more about me aka the embarrassing stories lol) but hey I guess I brought it upon myself lol :)

Thank you two for coming over (and again to my mommie for cooking for us & to my sister and bro in law for letting us use their house) I had so much fun...Its been great getting to grow and learn with both of you as our boys are out serving the Lord. Can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us! :)

Friday night out September.9.2011

Tonight I got to go grab frozen yogurt & chit chat with this awesome girl Holly!

Holly and I met through the facebook page and have become really great friends, we got to meet up while I was down in Utah (which I was really happy about!)

It was so much fun to get to know Holly a bit!

 So why there is 2 photos is because we took the 1st one in the car and Holly kept blinking so we decided to try taking one outside and it worked-she didn't blink ;) Thanks Holly for hanging out, can't wait to do it again real soon!!!

shhh don't tell mom September.2.2011

Shhh...don't tell Britt I let them do this but its a good way to let the kiddos get their energy out :)

Jaxson LOVES running around the house without his clothes on lol (but I made him keep his shorts on & little miss Brooklyn follows his every move so off her shirt went too lol)

 Jaxson chased Brooklyn....caught her. Turned around and Brooklyn would chase him giggling all the way it was SO cute I couldn't help but taking photos of them :)

Brooklyn is growing UP September.2.2011

Every time I blink this little girl gets a little bit bigger!

 Her eyes are so pretty :)

 The face she gives when she gets caught stealing my phone....she then tried to play cute and talk on it!

 Brooklyn's "cheesy" face

Oh my goodness, we used to be safe on the couch but Brooklyn can now crawl up on to it :/

She is getting so BIG, but it was awesome to see her growing up 

(she will do ANYTHING for technology lol)

Aunt/Niece Date September.5.2011

Today I got to take this little girl out on our first Aunt & Niece date. I was meeting my friends Cara and Jenna along with Jenna's little niece Mya who is adorable. So I brought Brooklyn with me :)

we headed out to the Kneaders in Riverton, Brooklyn and I got inside and started to order to find out they had ran out of french toast! How does a french toast place run out of that? Good thing its a popular place (hence why it ran out) that there is more than one of them here, so we headed to another one in South Jordan :)

We got there and had our french toast...it was delicious as ever!

I got some much needed girl time with Cara and Jenna and Brooklyn got her dose of sugar from the french toast lol.

Thanks girlies for inviting me, it was super fun :) Can't wait to hang out again!

Labor Day weekend getaway September. 2-4.2011

This weekend I got to spend Labor Day weekend with some of my family up in Park City :) We headed up Friday afternoon for Midway to go to Swiss Days (basically a big craft/ food fair) it was super fun looking at all the cute crafts and eating all the super yummy food, we had a scone and navajo taco :) I was in love lol!
We headed up to my Dad and Cricket's condo afterwards for some relaxation. We munched on some popcorn and sipped away on some chocolate milk-it was delicious :) Brooklyn loved the popcorn and Jaxson couldn't stop drinking my chocolate milk lol, I love those two kiddos! After we put them to bed and then we chilled and chatted as adults-feels kinda odd to be able to stay up late with the big people now after having to go to bed earlier all these years, guess it means I am growing up lol :)

I crawled into bed with Jaxson friday night and saturday morning...early morning I got woken up by Jaxson kicking and tossing, man he kicks and tosses more than I do lol! Then later that morning I got woken up by the smell of bacon, yum! We had breakfast then while the older adults got ready for the day I took the kiddos out for a walk, we took a stroll around the condo-it was fun :) We got back and then the family headed out to Heber to visit Cricket's friend Tammy and the craft fair in Heber :) After that we hit up Ruby Tuesdays for lunch then the boys dropped us girls off at the Park City outlet malls and the boys went back to the condo to watch the BYU game! After about 4 hours the game was over and BYU won WOOHOO!!! and all our shopping was over so we got picked up then headed to Coldstone for a sweet pick me up :) After that we went to Redbox to get the Adjustment Bureau to watch that night. We got back to the condo and we took the kiddos swimming for a bit while John made us dinner, fish tacos and guac & chips :) After dinner the kiddos went night night and we popped in the movie and made some hot cocoa to go with it :)

Sunday morning-I slept on my own bed that night lol. the war of Jaxson vs Kendahl..well Jaxson won lol! I woke up to my dad tickling my feet (he knows I am super ticklish!) Then we made breakfast before heading out to downtown Park City (where the Olympics were held), it was cool to see all the sights and old buildings :) we came back to the condo and went swimming then let the kids take a nap :)

This weekend was super fun! The condo-steam shower, huge kitchen, two pools, huge tub, tons of couches...most importantly family was there which helped make it a blast :) thank you dad & cricket for inviting me up there :)

September.1. 2011

Ahhh August has come and GONE and now my favorite month is here :) I know I said before that July is my favorite month (but that only really applies to Nate lol) because September has always been my favorite. The changing of the air from hot sunny days to crisp afternoons, the sound of school bells going off as you start a fresh new year of school, and well most importantly a special day comes in September.....drum roll please...MY BIRTHDAY :) the 29th happens to be the BEST day of the ENTIRE year *not being biased or anything ;)*


This year is KINDA a big deal though. In exactly 28 days from now I say goodbye to my teenage years. Its kinda hitting me hard to be honest, my teenage years are what I remember most from growing up, ya sure a memory here and there from my childhood but most of my "growing" up occurred during those crucial years. I went from being a girl to a woman, I went from the bottom of the food chain (aka middle school and freshmen) to being the top dog senior to well going all the way back down again  to a freshie at college! But during all those years I learned who I was, what I chose to stand for in life, and what and I wanted out of life. So ya I would say my teenage years were KINDA important lol.


So school...27 days from now I start my sophomore year at college *gasp* did I really just write that?!?!? sounds so odd to write that-I totally remember my freshmen year like it was yesterday. odd. but time has passed and I am now going to be returning to the University of Washington (go huskies) as a second year college kid, I'll be almost 20, and headed my way towards applying for my nursing major.


*heads up this next part is about Nate just in case you are sick of reading about him lol*
So with a start of a new school year I can't HELP but think about this being my last school year without him..when I start school I'll have 10 months left AHHHHH!!! I'm going to focus on my schooling and just watch the months fly by! Then school will be over and BAM one month left-ya I'll be freaking out then lol! But this is my last school year without him, next year he might just be walking along side of me to class, going to institute with me and what I'm probably most excited for is being able to call him and text him WHENEVER I WANT :) But that is a little over 10 months from now so lets rewind and focus on the present month lol.


You got Labor Day this weekend-I'm headed up to Park City to this "little" thing called Swiss Days-super stoked for it! :) Then I got one more week here in good ol' Utah! Then heading back with my mommie to Washington. Then two weeks of lounging I mean packing lol. Then BAM school time, I got my books and I'm getting mentally pumped for this year, its going to be a good one!


Alright enough rambling now (you see what happens when I get going lol) Happy 1st of September to you all, to all those in school I wish you the BESTEST of luck! Listen, ask questions, take notes, and study HARD for those tests :)