Our Anniversary!

Alright, so our anniversary isn't until tomorrow, but I know that I probably won't have time to do a post tomorrow, so instead you are stuck with two for today.
Kraig and I got married eight years ago. Unlike most people, at least in Utah, we went to Vegas and pulled our witnesses off the street. There is a very long story that goes behind this, that is no longer important.
Originally I did buy a dress though, even though I never wore it, I still have it. I keep thinking that I need to sell it, it only takes up space in Kraig's closet (it won't fit in mine). It is really simple, and I loved that about it. There was another one that I loved even more, but for some reason I got this one instead.

Here are some pictures of it though. This is the front of the dress.


This is a picture of the waist band.


This is the detail on the back.


This is the detachable train, it is also very simple, the biggest thing on it is the bow, which I still don't know if I like.


Here it is taking up room in Kraig's closet.


The biggest thing I regret from eloping, no reception. As a girl I did not dream about my wedding or my wedding colors. I was the odd one out and I knew it. In many ways I still am, but that is who I am.
Kraig and I have now been married for eight years. I am wondering who lost the bet. I know there had to be people that didn't think it would last this long. What those people didn't know is that Kraig is my best friend and has been for the last 11 years. We didn't date, but we did know each other.
Every day I am grateful to Kraig for his patience. He may not always believe that but I am. He puts up with all my mood swings, and my many frustrations. We are not perfect, we do not see eye to eye on everything, in fact there are a few things we go head to head on, but we work together and figure things out. My biggest complaint is I just wish he would actually get mad sometimes.
Here are a few pictures of us through out the last 10 or so years. I just wish we had more pictures of the two of us together.

Kraig and me in St. George


Kraig and me in San Diego


The two of us in St. George


The two of us, this was taken while we were still in high school


Kraig while we were on a hike


Me on the same hike


At my grandparents house after our hike, I think we got a little sun.


Kraig after putting my bike in the blazer so we could go for a bike ride


Kraig while we were on a bike ride in St. George


Kraig in our apartment in St. George


Us in St. George


Kraig getting home in St. George (he wasn't happy I took this picture)


Kraig while we were bowling in St. George


Me while we were bowling, this picture turned out weird, it really was not photoshopped.


The two of us stand out side the St. George temple, when we took out our endowments


Me and Kraig with my brother and sister one Christmas


Kraig, Jeremy, and me, goofy around this summer in St. George


Kraig and me getting our pictures done for the Oaks family pictures


Kraig and I out side the Jordan River Temple after being sealed.


Anyway that should be enough pictures for now. We really do need more pictures of the two of us though.

This years resolutions

Since the New Year, is just a few days a way, I decided that this year I was going to put most of my resolutions on my blog, so that I would be more likely to do them. The ones that I don't put on here, are really out of my hands anyway, so there is only so much I can do. I will also say that in some ways, most of my goals for the year, are a little self serving and almost shallow.

The first one should sound familiar to just about anyone.
I am going to go my best to get into better shape. In July I joined Gold's Gym, for a little while I went the days I had decided to go. That last about three weeks. Things started coming up, I started making excuses, and I feel into the cycle of everyone else. This year I am making it my goal to go at least three times a week, for half an hour a day, or a total of an hour and a half a week. I am going to do my best to keep track of it because accountability is important for reaching goals. So I am going to put this up on my blog, so that it is always showing.


Hopefully this will help.

The second is I want to dejunk my house. This is going to be hard, because we are never home. We are always at work. I am also going to need Kraig's help on this, and that is not going to be easy. Especially since he learned a few things from his dad, he likes to keep everything. I just can't take not having enough room to store things. I really need to get rid of somethings, and figure out what I really need, and what I don't. So many of us get into that mentality that we need stuff. It doesn't matter if we don't use it, we keep it. I am going to do my best at getting rid of things that we don't need. Who knows maybe some of it I can give away...

The thrid is I want to start spending more time doing fun things. When we are not at work, we are at home, usually either working on cleaning the house, or playing games. When I was in high school I use to do so much fun things. I would go on bike rides, play softball, basketball, go hiking, go camping, make cookies with my friends. It always seemed like I was doing something. However over the last few years I lost a lot of motivation, and we don't do as much as we use to. It is so hard for me to just be stuck inside for hours cleaning or doing nothing. It get on my nerves. I want to be out doing things.

Fourth, I have been terrible at reading my scriptures. I know that this next year we are suppose to be studing the Doctrine and Covenants, and I do love the Doctrine and Covenants. However I am going to do my best to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I the Book of Mormon has such a wonderful power, that it is what I need right now.

There are a couple others, but as I said those are really out of my hands. I can make a goal all I want, but if it isn't what Heavenly Father wants for me, then it won't do me any good.
I am not going to be perfect at these, but as I said, I will do my best. It is all I can promise.

Our Christmas

Well it has been a while since I have last posted, it has been a crazy couple of weeks. However most of that is boring, so I will tell you about some of our Christmas.

Here is a picture of our tree, that I decided to put up to try and put me in the Christmas spirit, which kind of worked.


The Saturday before Christmas my family had it's annual Christmas party. All my mom's family gets together for a Christmas party, as we have gotten older there are a few that have moved and it is now hard for them to make it. It use to be to try and help the little kids calm down a little, now there are fewer little kids, and it doesn't seem to work to calm them down as much as wind them up. Basically we get together for dinner, and games. This year we did chili and soup for dinner, and my Grandpa Curly read "Twas the Night Before Christmas", afterwards we did a white elephant gift exchange. Since there are so many of us, we tend to get a little competitive with the stealing of presents, we do set a few rules one the stealing just so it won't take all night, but it is often the best part (too bad I didn't get any pictures of that).
Here are a few pictures

A few of my relatives having dinner






This is me and my sister in law Aubrey after dinner was done, right before presents, not a great picture.


Here is one of my Grandpa Curly with a bow on his head from one of the many presents that were opened.


Christmas Eve Kraig, Kurt, Stacy, and I went to Linda's and Lonnie's were we hung out playing Phase 10. It is kind of a fun card game, however I am very bad at it.

Christmas Day, Kraig slept in. Only until 7:30, but for him that is really good. We just kind of hung out at home together until we went to his parents house. We got to his parents house at about noon, shortly after we got there Kent, and Kurt and their families got there. We let the little kids open there presents from Grandpa & Grandma, and the aunts and uncles. Which they all had a blast doing. Then once Keith and his family got there we opened the rest of the presents. My in-laws are so generous, and I am so grateful to them for everything that they do.
Here a few pictures of Christmas day

Jillyn and Lucy with Lucy's monkey, that she loves


Here is one of Amy


Here is one of Kaden, he is starting to look closer to a teenager then a little kid


Here is one of Lucy playing with her new phone


We left Linda & Lonnie's at about 7:30 or 8:00, just before a big snow storm hit that closed the airport, that isn't far from our house (which left us with about 6 inches of snow last night). So First thing this morning Kraig went out and shoveled our drive way. The dogs were a little upset because Kraig was outside and they were inside.

Rusty watching Kraig


Gabby watching Kraig

Baffled

Just as warning this is going to be very long!!
This is a true story strangely enough, I guess this is one time that truth is stranger then fiction. I did get permission from the person this happened to, and I promised not to use names. I know a few of you will know who I am talking about though.
One of Kraig and my best friends was recently divorced. He meet a girl online. They became really good friends, and they decided to get married. Here's where it gets strange (I know many of you are probably thinking that it is strange for him to get involved with someone so quickly, but as one of my favorite movies states "Stranger things have happened").
The girl he met online was from Australia. Kraig and I both talked to her online through MSN messenger, and through Facebook. To us she seems very nice, and she seemed very genuine. She said she only had one brother, and that the rest of her family had died in a car accident shortly before last Christmas. We also found out that she currently had breast cancer, and under going chemotherapy. Her original plan was to come over in September, however she couldn't because the doctors found she also had ovarian cancer too. Shortly before she was suppose to come over (in September) she told us her brother had been in a car accident, a few days later she told us that he had died.
She finally came over in November right before Thanksgiving. Our friend and her decided that they were going to get married the week before Christmas. Kraig and I supported our friend completely.
Last weekend our friend had a family Christmas party that was up in Salt Lake, they stayed the weekend with us, they live 4 hours from Salt Lake. Up until this point we had never met her, just seen pictures of her. When Kraig and I saw her we were both surprised. She did not look 27 years old, she did not look like the pictures that we saw of her.
Shortly before coming up here, someone found her Passport, that stated her birth year was 1956. She tried to say that it was because her friend in Australia, had filed the papers for her, and had gotten things mixed up, and that the birth date was her mom's. Some one also found her drivers licence that had the same date as the passport, she just said it was because her passport was wrong.
After they left Kraig started trying to find out more about her, there were things that weren't sitting well with him. He was really bothered, he spent every free minute he could trying to find out who she was.
While Kraig was doing his search, our friend also found something on her hard drive. I do not know if our friend was searching for things, or just stumbled across it. He found 3 birth certificates two were hers, one had the same age as her passport, and drivers licence, the second was one that had been "badly" photoshopped, with the birthday that she had been tell everyone was hers. The third birth certificate was for her "brother", however it listed her as the mother, with a different last name.
This is what Kraig found, the hospital she said she worked at does not exist. He also found out that in Australia you can not have someone else involved in getting a passport. Kraig also tried searching Australian newspapers for the last year trying to find anything about how she said her parents and sister died. The only accident that happened in the date range that she gave, that had three people that died, only two were in the same car. She said her parents, and sister were all in the same car. Kraig also tried to find the obituary for her "brother", he could never find one. There were also some little things, she never really talked about her past, or if she did she said very little. None of her friends on Facebook were from Australia, in fact only two of her friends weren't either related too, or friends with our friend, not counting the celebrities she had on her friends list.
Kraig was leery of talking to his friend about what he had found, I guess really the lack of what he had found. He didn't know anything for fact, except that the hospital she said she worked in doesn't exist, and she couldn't have had her friend get her passport for her. So Kraig called his friends mom, and told her what he had found. Kraig was trying hard not to start drama, he felt that if his friend trusted her, then he was going to stand by him. After Kraig talked to our friends mom, he felt better just talking to someone who was physically closer to our friend, and could view the situation better.
Shortly after talking to Kraig, our friends mom, talked to our friend. She told him that we were concerned about him. The next morning, our friend talked to me through messenger, and kind of asked about it. I just told him that Kraig was worried about somethings hadn't wanted to upset him. I then sent a text to Kraig telling him, what our friend had said to me, and what I had told him. This is where things blew up. Kraig called and told our friend everything he had found. At the same time our friend's mom had gone over to confront the lady about it, she stuck to her story about the age, but I guess she got a little confused about other things, and was having a hard time thinking on her feet. Our friends mom, told her that her son and this lady would need to sort things out, but she was going to take our friends daughters home with her.
Shortly after his mom left, he got home. He confronted her with the things Kraig and found. She told him that she was 27. Our friend at this point didn't believer her anymore. He knew Kraig wasn't trying to be mean, and didn't go looking for this stuff because he was trying to hurt him. She told him that she was going to go back to Australia and fix everything so that he could see the truth. He basically told her that was fine. Later that night she talked to him, and told him that she really was 52 years old, and that she really had had cancer. She is currently on a plane back to Australia though.
I have a few questions that I doubt I will ever really know the answers too. I want to know why she did this? I want to know how she could do this? I believe when she set up her Facebook account, she had set out to accomplish something. I don't know if she was just trying to get a green card, I don't know if she just wanted to get married again. I just don't understand how she could do this not only to our friend, but to his family too. I don't know that she had malicious intent, but she still hurt our friend. Our friend has almost nothing, he just got divorced, he has no money, all he really has is his beautiful little family. She also hurt us as well. Both Kraig and I feel deceived, we spent so many months talking to her, and we wanted to believe as much as our friend that she was who she said she was. Why our friend?? He is one of the nicest, sweetest guys I know. I am just completely baffled by this, what could she have possibly gained from all of this?? I don't know all the facts of who she is, and what she has lied about, and what she hasn't, but at this point, I don't think it matters.
I also just want our friend to know that we are so sorry, we love him, and we are grateful to have him in our lives. You really are wonderful!!

Just Me

A few weeks ago the Oaks' got family pictures taken, here are a few of my favorites.

This first one is of all the brothers, I really loved the one with color, but right now I only have the black and white one...


Here is one of my In-laws (notice Lonnie is actually smiling!!)


Here is a really cute one of my niece Amy


Here is one of the grandparents with grandkids


This one is Lonnie & Linda with the boys


Last one, this one is the whole family

Christmas Tag

I got this tag from my cousin in law Emily's blog.

wrapping paper or gift bags? depends on the gift

real tree or artificial? Well, if I decide to put one up it is usually artifical.

when do you put up your tree? If we put one up it, it is usualy the day after Thanksgiving

when do you take it down? depends when I have time, once we left our tree up until April

do you like eggnog? Yes I do.

favorite gift received as a child? a homemade Raggedy Ann doll made by my mom, that when I was little I would wear her clothes, I really wish there were pictures of it too

worst christmas gift ever received? I am pleading the 5th

hardest person to buy for? my father in-law Lonnie

easiest person to buy for? nephews

do you have a nativity scene? a few (Thank you Linda)

mail or email christmas cards? mail

favorite christmas movie? National Lampoons Christmas Vacation!!!

when do you start christmas shopping? November

have you ever recycled a christmas present? I plead the 5th

favorite thing to eat at christmas? Pecan tarts, and Chocolate marshmallow cookies, yum!!

lights on the tree? not this year, too lazy.

favorite christmas song? Mary Did You Know

travel or stay home? home.

can you name all of santa's reindeer? dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, donner, blitzen, and for those that count him Rudolph?

angel or star? depends, usually a star, this year it is neither, I put a bow

open presents christmas morning or eve? morning. I am kind of a traditionalist

favorite ornament theme or color? random

favorite place for christmas dinner? either my grandma's or Linda's.

most annoying thing about this time of year? Never having enough time to do what I need to do

what do you want for christmas this year? I never know....(I am probably hard to shop for too!)

I think I will copy Emily on this too, if you read all of them, your tagged!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Things have been a little crazy lately, work has been really busy. Plus I have been trying to get all my Christmas shopping done. The good news is I have all the little kids done, now I just need to figure out the adults....

Until then, I guess I will enjoy the hoildays. This year I seem to be getting a lot more excited then I have been over the last few years. I am grateful for the chance to spend time with family.

Random Tag

My sister in-law Jillyn got this tag from a friend of hers, so I thought I would give it a try.

1. Where is your cell phone? I think in my purse, I lost track of it

2. Where is your significant other? Sitting next to me playing World of Warcraft

3. What is your hair color? Dirty blonde, at least most days

4. Your mother? Cynthia

5. Your father? Korry

6. Your favorite thing? Music, usually

7. Your dream last night? I don't remember having one

8. Your dream/goal? Happiness

9. The room you are in? Living/family

10. Your hobby?

11. Your fear? To complicated to explain here

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy

13. Where were you last night? Shopping and home

14. What you're not? Lots of things

15. one of your wish-list items? Kids

16. The last thing you did? Facebook stuff

17. Where you grew up? Sandy

18. What you are wearing? Clothes

19. Your T.V.? We have one, it hasn't been on in a while

20. Your pet? I have two

21. Your computer? Ask Kraig

22. Your mood? hmm, tired but good

23. Missing someone? Sort of, hard to explain

24. Your car? Blue

25. Something you're not wearing? Socks and shoes

26. Your summer? is over :(

27. Favorite store? Target or Barnes and Noble

29. Love someone? Yes I do

30. When was the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? the last time I got frustrated

32. Favorite music? Just about anything

Since I copied Jillyn on this tag, and she didn't tag anyone. I won't either, but if you want to please do!

The Hymns

Let me frist start by saying I don't talk about this very often, because of how much this means to me, and how difficult it is for me to put into words.
There are very few people who understand just how deeply I love music, I have to constantly have music going. I love just about everything. I am not a big rap fan, or a big opera fan. There are a few song from both genres that I like, but not much. I own an ipod, and I am one of the odd people that have a ton of music on it (I currently have 1883, in my itunes library), because I am always in the mood for something different. This includes the LDS hymns.
Today was one of the days that I really just didn't want to go to church. I was getting a migraine, it had been a rough week, all I wanted to do was stay home, and do nothing. However I did go to church, well just scarament. The opening hymn was "Count Your Blessings", the scarament hymn was "O God, the Eternal Father" (most scarament hymns make me cry everytime), the congregational hymn was "I Need Thee Every Hour" (one of my favorites). For some reason, the opening hymn and the congregational hymn touched my heart so deeply. It was what I needed today.
I want to say more, but nothing sounds right. I wish I could explain the emotions, and the feeling, but I can't.

Our Date

Last Saturday Kraig and I went on a date. We went to the symphony. I had heard that they were doing Bruckners 4th, which was suppose to be a "Big Brass Show". It is a piece that they like to play for Halloween, because of the all the brass. It was also nicknamed the "Romantic" by the composer.
First we took Trax downtown, we got off at the Gateway Mall stop. Where we had dinner at Costa Vida, it is a mexican place, very similar to Cafe Rio(for those that know what Cafe Rio is). Not very romantic, but yummy. We then got back on Trax and took it back to Abravanell Hall. We sat on the floor in about the center. In all honesty, you can't have bad seats at thy symphony. Plus with the design, you hear everything. I love the architecture of the building, it is awesome.
I was slightly disappointed in the "main attraction" because of all the hype for it, but it was still very good. They play Bruckners 4th after the intermission.
The first half ended up being my favorite part, it was more of what I expected. They played Sinfonia da Requiem, Op.20 composed by Benjamin Britten. For Sinfonia they played three sections, they play Lacrymosa (which I love), Dies irae, and Requiem aeternam. Kraig was having fun watching the person playing the cymbols. The gentlenman playing the cymbols would stand up hit the cymbols together, then sit back down and relax.

Here is a copy of the program


A copy of my ticket (Kraig left his in his shirt pocket, where it got washed)


Going to the symphony made me miss playing my violin. I haven't touched my violin in a probably about a year, if not more. I miss being on the stage, part of the orchestra, playing, and knowing I was where I wanted to be. Part of my problem is the violin I own, it has issues, and is very hard to tune. The pegs slip, and it makes it harder then it is worth most days. I have been tempted to take it to one of the Summerhayes Music, and see if they will let me trade it in so to speak. Plus I am not very good. I never took lessons, I taught myself pretty much all of what I know. In high school, my violin was my voice. I was quiet, or loud, depending on the day, but I never really talked alot. Plus there were many things I had to deal with that, I couldn't. My violin and my poetry became my voice, and my outlet.