Another Favorite

I FINALLY did it! I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!!!! I had started reading it in highschool and decided it wasn't for me. However, after much contemplation I decided to give it a second chance. I'm glad I did! I'm usually not much for make-believe things, but there is just something about this book that is rather entertaining! (I think what made me change my mind and give it a chance is the fact that I liked the Twilight series so much. If I can like a book about Vampires, why not a book about wizards and magic...right?!)

I love to read. It gives me a chance to wind down at nights and try to take my brain off all the events of that day and the days to come.

Over Christmas break Jake had gone duck hunting with his friend, Jerald, which I had mentioned on a previous post. We finally got some pictures of the day so I decided to share one.

Here is Jake with his ducks! You can't tell, but he has like 12 hanging around his neck! His pride and joy of course is the pintail he is holding up! Way to go babe!

The New Member of the Balls Family!

The Balls have a new member of their family!!!!

(Not us of course, but Jake's parents and his little brother!)

Last Sunday we got Jake's mom to say that if Connor (his little brother) didn't join the marines then she would let them have a house dog. Connor said okay, but it had to be within the next month. They underestimated Jake's abilities and tonight, not even a week later, they become the proud owners of a new dog. He's a cute 2-yr-old terrier mix named Eddie. I don't think Jake wants them to go home!!!

Today was the first Saturday Jake and I had off work for months!!! We loved it! It was my little sister's bday and we went down to the Draper Temple open house! I love the temple and the spirit that is there!!!! I'm so glad we were able to go! Happy 17th bday Ky!

Just us girls!!!

Long Weekend!

We LOVE Monday holidays!!! It's the only time that we get a 2-day weekend! We went up to Cache Valley Saturday night and played until Monday night! We decided to go for a little hike up Hyde Park canyon. Jake loves to go and just look for deer and I really needed the exercise! It was so good to get out! Jake was really disappointed though because he only saw one buck...a spike that had already dropped one side.

Jake's mom was nice enough to take a half a day off work to come play with us!

Just for a sidenote, Jake and I receieved our new callings in our new ward. I will be in the Sunbeams and Jake is in the Deacons quorum and scouts, which he will do awesome at! Sunbeams will either be a good form of birth control or make me want kids sooner...we'll have to see how that goes! I'm excited!

Our FUN Night!

Yesterday I cleaned Jeff's teeth up at school. I definitely think I enjoyed it a lot more than he did, but all in all he was a pretty good sport about it! Afterward Jeff, Tammie and Carter all came over for dinner and to play. We LOVED it! Carter loves playing with Uncle Jake, but I think Jake enjoys it just as much or even more. I love to see him play with Carter....He is going to be an amazing dad when that day comes along. The best news is that Tammie has another one on the way, little Aubrey (sorry guys I probably didn't spell it right!) so then we'll have a niece to play with too! We're so excited!

It was nice to just hang out and visit and not do any homework!!!! Thanks for spending the evening with us...we need to do it more often!

Carter riding "the horse on the carosel"... Just one of the many activities of the night!

After Jeff and Tammie left for the night we made a trip over to Jake's friend's house to pick up the rest of his Christmas...a new duck hunting coat! He was so excited! I got to see all the neat parts of the coat as he sported it around. The best part about it is that he got an awesome deal on it!!!! Any of you who don't know me very well...my natural high is to get good deals on things so it was a great way to end the night for both of us!

BACK to SCHOOL!

We had a great new year, but I only wished it would have lasted longer. We spent the time with Jake's family at lots of parties with lots of good food! It's probably for the best that the holidays are over because I was getting used to eating way to much! Now are lives are back to the norm...being controlled by school! I take my written dental hygiene board exam in 10 weeks!!!! Pretty nervewracking. I know exactly what I am going to be doing every single spare second that exists in every single day until then!

This past weekend we got together with our friends Stacy and Jeremy. Stacy and I have been friends since the 1st grade. Not many people can say they've had a friend for this long!!! Stacy has stuck with me through the thick and thin and I owe a lot of who I am today to her....She's great! I'm glad they live closer to us now becuase then we can see each other more often!

First we decided to go to dinner at Rumbi's. Jake and Jeremy cannot sit still for 2 minutes without finding something to do, so this is them whittling their chopsticks while we were waiting for our dinner. Jake and I had never eaten here but we loved our yummy rice bowl!

After dinner we went to the rec center to go ice skating! Jake and I have only been ice skating once together so it was a lot of fun! We started off a little rough, but by the end we were whipping out triple axles and such...NOT! I wanted to get a picture of us all but I just didn't dare carry my camera on the ice with my clumsiness and all! Jake and Jeremy loved playing tag with random kids, but Stacy and I preferred to spend our time chatting and catching up on life. Although Jake ended up with a few bruises we had a great time!

To finish off the night we went back to Stacy and Jeremy's for some yummy icecream and a few games of UNO. Jake and I are so blessed to have so many great friends!!!!!!!