Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Yesterday's Snow Storm

What It Looked Like At My Office In Salt Lake:



What It Looked Like At My House In Eagle Mountain:








Isn't it amazing what a difference there is in just a few miles?!?!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Check Out Below For Three Fun Quizzes To Take!!

My Christmas Tree

You Should Have A Gold Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays represent a time of optimism and wealth.

You definitely have a generous spirit, and you give a lot during the holiday season.

You really go over the top for Christmas. Everyone on your list gets a great gift.

Even if you don't have a lot of money during the holidays, it's the one time you pretend like you do.

Your gold tree would look great with: All kinds of metallic decorations

You should spend Christmas Eve watching: Miracle on 34th St

What you should bake for Santa: A ton of cookies, cupcakes, and candy. You would enjoy spoiling him.


June 8th Is A Cool Day!

You Are A Tycoon

Watch out Donald Trump! You've got a head for business and money.

You'll make it rich some day, even if you haven't figured out how yet.

A supreme individualist, you shouldn't get stuck in a corporate job.

Instead, make your own way - so that you can be the boss.

Your strength: Your undying determination

Your weakness: You require an opulent lifestyle

Your power color: Plum

Your power symbol: Dollar sign

Your power month: August


How Tall Is An Italian Man?

What Does Your Height Say About You?

You are powerful, brilliant, and a bit of a rebel.

You are an idealist, and you will work hard for a better world.

It's hard for other people to keep up with you - both mentally and physically.

And you're so independent, you actually prefer to go it alone.

You are about as tall as the average Italian man.

What Does Your Height Say About You?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thankful

I know I am a couple of weeks late for Thanksgiving, but I am still Thankful. I apologize for the length of the post, but hey people have been bugging me to post something, so here you go.

I was listening to my Josh Groban "Noel" CD on my way to work this morning and I ended up crying the whole way to work. I usually do during the second song ("I'll Be Home for Christmas" with all of the military and their families' speaking during the song) so that wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was the excessive amount of water that was ruining my freshly applied morning make-up during the fourth song... "Thankful."

I don't think it would catch anyone off guard for me to say that it's been a rough year. Most of my friends are married and moved/moving far away from me. For the first time in my life I was enjoying going to Relief Society and getting to know people in the neighborhood, and then we got called to the bubble of Primary. I know all of the kids in the ward, but was afraid I would never know any grown-ups. I started a new job that I thought would be amazing for me, but I just don't enjoy it like I did my previous job. Dave's sister passed away suddenly and that shook our world like I wouldn't have ever believed possible. We have been trying to start our family for over a year and a half and haven't been able to get pregnant. As happy as I am for others, it's so hard when almost all of our married siblings and friends have had or will have babies in the time we have been trying. In my doctor's attempts to make sure everything is alright, we found a gall stone that was approximately golf ball size. Just three weeks from that finding, I had my galbladder removed. We have both suffered from bad sinus infections most of the fall. And my kidneys hate me. That battle is ongoing. I know I seem down a lot, but I usually try to just brush it off and my response is usually "I'm fine" or "I'm just tired". I know my mom especially can see right through it, but I always give it a try.

Anyway, as much as this year has been rough, it has been wonderful too. Dave and I have grown stronger in our relationship as we have struggled together. We have had the opportunity to learn and grow as we have pled with the Lord for understanding, strength, and patience. The veil seems to be thin with Jenni on the other side and the Lord's tender mercies are everywhere. We have a plaque in our living room that says "Because Someone We Love Is In Heaven, We Feel Heaven In Our Home" How true! We are closer to family and are working on those important relationships. We have a house. We both have jobs. We are planning and saving for the future. We have made some incredible friendships in our ward, despite the primary bubble. We know that we will have children when the time is right, we (I) just have to be more patient in waiting for Heavenly Father to bless us with our little angels when the time is truly right. One of my sweet primary girls asked me a couple of weeks ago if I had a baby yet. When I said no, she asked if I was going to have one. I said hopefully soon, I really want one. Her response was "Probably Heavenly Father is just deciding which one to send to you." Thank you Kendell, what faith from a little child!

We also know that although it has been a rough year for us, others have had it worse. We have a renewed commitment this holiday season to help others, to make ourselves better, and to do all that we can to be worthy of our Savior's presence this Christmas. Thank you all for being a part of my life and making my life better! This is the song that touched me today. Especially the chorus.

"Thankful" By Josh Groban
Somedays we forget to look around us.
Somedays we can't see the joy that surrounds us.
So caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for what we know can be.
And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change;
And even though we all can still do more,
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves, there's so much sorrow.
It's way too late to say I'll cry tomorrow.
Each of us must find our truth, it's so long overdue.

So for tonight we pray for what we know can be.
And everyday we hope for what we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change;
And even though we all can still do more,
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences,
There is a place we're all connected.
Each of us can find each other's light.

So for tonight we pray for what we know can be.
And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change;
And even though this world needs so much more,

There's so much to be thankful for.


P.S. Can this count as my Christmas Card this year?!?

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Just a Heads Up

Tomorrow is "Wear Brown Shoes" Day, so everyone plan your outfits accordingly!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Just A Note On Tomorrow's Rivalry

GO BYU!!


Although it's kind of small and hard to see, it's all I could find...

Just for old times' sake!!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Today is...

NATIONAL CANDY CORN DAY!!!

So everyone enjoy some yummy candy corn today!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

About My Wonderful Husband

1. Where did you meet your husband? Well, one January day I was at work at Macey’s in Provo interviewing potential employees, when this incredibly cute guy walked in for an interview. I interviewed him, and hired him on the spot. Best hire ever!!

2. How long did you date before you married? I don’t really know for sure when we started dating. He was hired on January 24 and we got engaged on June 4, so we moved from “hanging out” to “dating” sometime in between there. And we got married on September 7, so engaged for 3 months and 3 days, and dated before that lets say for a couple of months.

3. How long have you been married? We celebrated our 2nd anniversary last month.

4. What does he do that surprises you? He always says he is not very good at surprises. But he always tries to get as much done around the house as he can on his day off while I am at work. It is so nice to come home to! And he loves, loves doing laundry!

5. What is my favorite feature on him? I really like his gorgeous blue eyes! This may sound weird, but I love his skin too! Especially right after he washes his hands or takes a shower! It is so soft and cool. I love it!

6. What is my favorite quality of his? There are so many, but two are… 1- He is so patient. (I am not.) He is always trying to help me see that everything will be ok, even if it doesn’t happen on my timeframe! 2- He is so strong in the Gospel and has such a love for and understanding of it! Ok three! 3- He loves kids and is amazing with them. I can’t wait till he has a bunch of them following him around and adoring him as much as he will adore them!

7. Does he have a nickname for you? He calls me “Nat”, “Babe”, “Beautiful”, and new this week “Chicky Baby”. He almost always answers the phone “Oh hi, you’re cute!”

8. What is his favorite food? Moo Goo Gai Pan from China Bowl. He also loves Mush Chops and the homemade version of Taco Bell Quesadillas. Oh and Flat Iron Steak with Kerry’s Essence. And BLT’s – he asks for them once a week at least! And there are never enough special occasions for Manti Turkey!!

9. What is his favorite sport? He is not an avid sports fan, but probably BYU football?

10. When & where was your first kiss? On the front doorstep of my parents house the day after we got back from Caleb’s birthday party in Las Vegas. He held my hand the night before we went down to Vegas and the whole time we were there, but too many people we putting pressure on him to do it down there, so he didn’t, which was just fine!

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Really just be together. We both work long hours and sometimes opposite shifts, so just being together anytime we can is fabulous. We really like to snuggle! We call my head on his chest/shoulder the “sweet spot” and I fall asleep there every night.

12. Do you have any children? No, unfortunately at this time we do not. We definitely want to have kids, it just hasn’t happened for us yet. Hopefully soon. Really soon. Please?!

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He is great at Guitar Hero! And he LOVES to bake! Anything bread-ish - he loves it and loves making it. I love the homemade rolls every Sunday!

14. How old is he? 29

15. Who said I love you first? He did.

16. What is his favorite music? Switchfoot and Lifehouse.

17. What do you admire most about him? Pretty much everything about him! He is patient, understanding, loving, and kind. And he cares about me. He always puts my feelings and needs above his own. How I love this man!!

18. What is his favorite color? It depends on the day. He likes orange a lot.

19. Will he read this? Probably at some point. He likes to see what I put on the blog, he just doesn’t get the time do to it very often.

20. Who do you tag? Everyone who hasn't done this. It was fun to think of things about my husband!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

STOP VOTING FOR CLORKY!!

On Dancing with the Stars, Cloris Leachman and Corky Ballas must go home!! They are terrible, so please stop voting for them!! Thank you!

First of MANY Tags

8 Things About Me
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1- Dancing with the Stars
2- So You Think You Can Dance
3- American Idol
4- Amazing Race
5- Psych
6- Friends
7- Boy Meets World
8- Samantha Who? (Although I don't watch it very often.)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1- Had one of the most boringist days at work. Ever.
2- Filled up my car with gasoline for $2.95... still outrageous, but under $3.00, so YAY!
3- Cleaned the kitchen.
4- Paid some bills.
5- Made Asian Salad and Cream Cheese Wontons for dinner - an experiment that turned out deliciously well!
6- Got stuff prepared for tonight's dinner so tonight will be super easy!!
7- Made some freezer meals with the couple of jars of tomotoes that didn't seal when Mom and I canned tomatoes on Saturday.
8- Cleaned my kitchen, again.

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1- BABIES!
2- Being with family.
3- Vacation to California for Lindsay's wedding in a couple of weeks.
4- Finishing all of our little projects around the house... PAINT!
5- Hanging out with our new friends, Trent and Avalie, who we get along with so very well!
6- The holidays - I love all of the traditions and family time!
7- Spending time with Dave in the evenings after long days at work.
8- Being reunited with family that has already left us in this life.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1- China Bowl
2- PF Changs
3- Costa Vida
4- Macaroni Grill
5- Tony Romas (Cry!)
6- Five Guys - Thanks to the Lunts... best hamburger ever.
7- Tepanyaki - I've only been there once, but it was very good and a lot of fun!
8- The Daddio's Conference Weekend Cafe

8 Things On My Wish List:
1- BABIES!
2- Travel - Lots of it! Hawaii... Brasil... Europe... Fiji...
3- Painting in my house to be done.
4- Finish my basement!
5- To be back to the shape I was in while dancing at BYU.
6- To be able to keep my house clean. I know, I don't even have kids yet!
7- Not having to work... at least not full time.
8- BABIES!

8 People To Tag:
I am with Jessica, anyone who wants to... go right ahead!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Guitar Hero With the Steeds

Although this fun evening was at the very end of August, I am just now getting around to posting it. All of the Steed side of the family came over for a BBQ and some Guitar Hero fun at our house. The Pemberton girlies really got into it. They picked a song they liked and practiced it over, and over, and over. Some fun pictures of the evening are coming soon...

Friday, September 19, 2008

Aarrrr!!

Today is International Talk Like A "Piyate" Day!!



My pirate name is:


Dread Pirate Rackham






Like the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, you have a keen head for how to make a profit. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network
'N this be the piyate name given me.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Utah's Best Bagger...

This is Kasala Kasala from the Macey's in West Jordan, and as you can tell, he is VERY excited to be the 2008 Utah State Best Bagger.


There were 38 baggers in this year's competition from Macey's, Dan's, Dick's, Lin's, Harmon's, and Winegar's. Just so everyone knows what this is all about, it's much more complicated than just bagging. They are judged on 1- Speed (You want to go fast), 2- Weight Distribution (You want each bag to weigh the same), 3- Bag Building Technique (Cans on the bottom, boxes on the sides, no glass touching, no chips/bread/eggs smashed, no bags torn or falling over, etc.), and 4-Appearance and Attitude (You should be in dress code and excited to be there!)

Everone bagged in plastic, and then in paper, and then their scores were added together to get the winner. Emily Call from Sandy Macey's came in second and Jenette Solis from Draper Harmon's came in third. Emily will go on to the National competition in February because Kasala leaves on his mission in December.

For all of you who don't care, that's just too bad because this was a lot of work and is what has been consuming most of my blogging time for the last 2 months. So deal with it! (And yes, that is me in the background. I was an official point calculator and was hoping to avoid getting in any news shots, but clearly failed!)

And here is a slide show from Deseret News so you can share in a little of the excitement!

Deseret News - Audio slideshow - It's in the bag

I Know, I Know...

So it has been a VERY long time since I posted anything. Don't get me wrong, PLENTY has been going on lately. I just haven't had time to sleep, let alone blog! On Monday of this week (September 15) it was the Utah Food Industry's Annual Educational Conference and Celebration. That is where I work, along with only three other people, therefore putting together a conference for the entire food industry in the state of Utah was more than a little work and more than a little time consuming!! On top of the conference, I was in charge of the Utah State Best Bagger Competition. You got it, bagging competition. If you are one of the ones saying "Oh brother, it's just bagging", you have got it all wrong!! This is serious business and those baggers take it VERY seriously!! (Some of them a little too seriously!) Anywho... it was fun, and IT'S OVER!!! So I will try to get and keep caught up. :0)

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Peter Breinholt Concert

Last night quite a group of us went to the Peter Breinholt concert at the Sandy City Amphitheater. It was Mom & Dad, the Rebster, Dave, Jes, Caleb & Spencer, Jeff & Wendy Evans & thier boys, Amber & her date Eric, and Dave & I. We ran into Jessica's friend from High School, Kat and her husband, so they sat by us as well. It was a really fun concert, but I don't know that any of really paid too much attention to the actual concert. That seems to happen when the boys are around!! Here are some pictures...

Grandma and Piyate Spencer waiting outside the amphitheater. We were the first ones in line!

Rebecca and Caleb waiting too. We got the best seats on the grass!

Dad, Mom, and the Rebster.

The Gordons in the sun, not totally paying attention.

The Evans family, who we became friends with during the Benefit concert in May.

Amber and Eric.

And us, the Steeds, Dave and Natalie.

And then Grandma pulled out the candy...

Dave loving the red vines,

Spencer enjoying an air head,

Dave playing with his tootsie rolls,

and Jes not letting us see her giant mouthful of toostie rolls. She just can't resist!!

Then there was the actual concert, which I only got one picture of, and it's of the opening act, the "Singing Children of Africa". It was fun to watch them sing and dance!! They also sang a couple of songs with Peter. Here are some pics of us enjoying the concert...

the "Singing Children of Africa"

Caleb and Spencer paying attention with Dave,

and not paying attention with Dave.

Caleb dancing to the Rio song,

Dave and Spencer dancing,

Caleb watching with his Daddy,

and Spencer following Peter's instructions for everyone to wave thier cell phones.

Ryan Shupe was also there tonight, and was filming a music video for their new single "Be the One". Caleb and his Daddy went down and were dancing, so everyone watch CMT to see if they make the cut!!
It was a fun night and we all had a blast!!

Monday, July 21, 2008

You Belong in 1985




Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

So apparently I, Natalie, belong in the 80's. Good thing that's when I was born!!


You Belong in 1954



You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

And Dave belongs in the 50's, a 30 year difference? I think something is a little bit off!!

Memories!!!!

Have you seen this little tag going around on blogs? I left a comment on one, so now I've got to do #2 on the list.

So let's play:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

3. If you can't say anything nice, don't comment. If you do, I'll delete it.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Baby Chloe

This is our newest neice, Chloe Marie Cuzzort.
Since we don't have one of our own to show off,
we will brag about her!!
She was born on Friday, July 11th and was 8 lbs 15 oz.
Both Baby and Mommy (Heather) are doing well!

Her middle name comes from her Aunt Jennifer Marie Pemberton who left us too soon and we all miss dearly.

She is adorable and we are very jealous of Grandpa & Grandma and Amber who got to go to Georgia to see them! We can't wait to see her in person too!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Day With the Pemberton Kids


I got to spend the day today with the Pemberton kids!! We slept in, ate breakfast, watched movies, Sequoya made lunch, we went on a very hot, long bike ride, saw pictures of the new cousin Chloe Marie Cuzzort, and took some pictures on my phone. Later today we are going to make a fort, read some books, hang out, and make dinner with Davy when he gets off of work. We also might have a lemonade stand. Here's a picture from the fun!!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

American Idols!!!

I thought of something... Last night Dave and I went to see the American Idols Live tour in Salt Lake. It was a ton of fun, minus the half hour long intermission. We thought Stadium of Fire with Miley Cyrus was loud, but I think the screaming Archuletta fans beat out the Miley tweens! When it was over, our ears were ringing, literally! We had to stop at Albertsons and buy some medicine for our poor heads. I think it was worth it. Honestly, I liked some of them better at the concert than I ever did on the show. Maybe its because they are doing it for fun now, and there's a lot less pressure? I don't know. Anyway, THE DAVID'S ROCK!!! (This is a video of the finale!)

Well, Here We Go

So, like the Rebster, I am giving into the peer pressure. I am at work... working extremely hard... finding things to keep me from going out of my mind... and this is what I came up with for entertainment this afternoon. Because I am at work, I have no pictures, so the blog is doomed to be picture-less and boring for a little bit. Sorry! Once I get a good lesson from the blogging expert, I will find something to put on here.