Ben's Birthday!

So, Ben is turning 28 tomorrow, and so I thought I would share 28 memories/reasons I love him/fun facts about Ben! (I know he will kill me for this post later, but he's at work right now!) For Ben's birthday we are going to eat at Macaroni Grill (thanks mom and dad) and then go shopping at IKEA for a new DVD stand to go with our new sweet TV! It will be an interesting night though, Ben is working today (Thursday) from 8am-3am! So, it might be a short date night. Poor guy! The picture is from our wedding pictures (the ones 6 months later, not the actual day hence the tan and nice weather!) and I think it is very handsome! I love you, Ben!

1. Ben hates to be the center of attention. He would prefer to be on the outskirts of social gatherings which is perfect for me since I love the spotlight! (And it's also the reason he will hate this post, but bear it like a good sport.)

2. Ben is very romantic and constantly leaves me notes and flowers.

3. Ben is going out of town in a week for 5 days on a business trip and we are both dreading it, this is will be the longest we have been seperated since we got married. I don't know how we ever did the long distance thing!

4. Ben loves rock climbing, but hasn't been able to go for a very long time because he is so busy. One of our first dates was to go rock climbing (which I had never done before) and to impress him I also volunteered to do a repel, where you go down a rock face instead of climbing up. It about made me pee my pants, but he was impressed so mission accomplished!

5. Ben knows a lot about cars and enjoys working on them, especially if he can work on them with his dad and brothers.

6. Ben loves fresh fruit and makes faces when he eats store bought or canned fruit.

7. Ben can play the trumpet, guitar, and piano but hates to sing.

8. Ben planned out his very elaborate proposal two months in advance!

9. Ben enjoys reading, when he gets the chance, and one of his favorite books is To Kill a Mockingbird.

10. I am so grateful for Ben's patience. He NEVER loses his temper, ever! Any disagreements we have is usually him stating an opinion and then me getting all fired up and irritated! :) (I know, that is shocking to those of you who know me well!)

11. Going along with number 10, Ben's favorite nickname for me is "Spitfire".

12. Ben served a mission to the Philippines and is still exceptionally fluent in Tagalog. We have occasionally met people who are from there and he can converse with them very easily.

13. I love that Ben treats me so well, everyone who spends time with us notices how sweet and thoughtful and caring Ben is with me and I LOVE it! He is an amazing husband who I love with all my heart.

14. Ben does not like to be in pictures, which is why I had to go all the way back to our wedding pictures to find one of just him!

15. Ben really enjoys going to plays, we get season tickets to Hale Center Theater every year together and that has been awesome! Ben is very well versed in literature and the world of theater, so it's fun to have conversations about the plays we see together.

16. Ben is a very loyal person, he has a close knit circle of friends and family and he is loyal and protective of those in his circle.

17. Ben is really really handsome. (Again, I know he will shoot me for posting this, but it's true!)

18. Ben doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, instead of dessert after dinner (a must have for me!) he is good with a glass of juice. It's weird, but great since it keeps me from buying junk food!

19. Ben is a very hard worker, he is great at juggling school and work and puts a lot of effort into both.

20. Ben has absoluely loved his new job, for which we are so grateful. It's about time he works somewhere that appreciates him!

21. Ben is a total night owl through and through, he can stay up a late as anyone I know but he is not a morning person at all!

22. Ben is great at making me feel better after a bad day-he knows just how to make me laugh.

23. Ben hates food with nuts, banana bread, brownies, Toblerone, ice cream, you name it and if it has nuts in it he won't touch it!

24. Despite the nut aversion however, Ben LOVES peanut butter!

25. Ben is so cute with kids, he loves to play with our niece and nephews and can't wait to be a daddy. (No, that's not an announcement.)

26. Ben is a problem solver-whether it be finances, homework, programming, or just figuring out why there's no sound with the TV he loves to solve things. If he starts something at night, he can't go to bed until it is completely solved. This is a great trait for his line of work!

27. Ben really loves his wife, which incidentally, works out really well for me!

28. Ben loves football, he knows everything about it, and loves to follow it all. He is also very patient with his wife who just doesn't get it!

I love you, Ben, for all of the wonderful things that make you the incredible man that you are. I appreciate so much how lovingly you take care of me. Happy Birthday, sweetheart, love you forever!

Thank you!

So my parents generously gave us their old TV on Sunday, but before you go thinking this is just some old junky TV, it is a HUGE 43" telelvision! It is almost as big as our entertainment center which is awesome! The fact that it was free is even better! We got it set up on Sunday and tried out some of our favorite movies, and a couple of Ben's favorite games. He is very pleased that he can actually see and read the text on this new TV! I will post a picture as soon as we have the living room put back together, it is still kind of a mess right now, since the entertainment center can't fit there anymore I have a few piles of books and DVDs that need a new home. So, until I get that done I will leave you all in suspense. Thank you, Mom and Dad, we LOVE it!

Wow...

So, I am looking at my last post, and I STINK at blogging! I swear I had that all lined up perfect until I published it and then it moved itself! So, sorry that I refer to photos that are, by the time you read it, nowhere near the text! :)

So I have been wanting to post this for a while now, and today I finally had time! First, I really like my new blog background, don't you? I think it fits me rather well... :) Ok, here we go. So back in July I took a little trip to go see my grandparents in Colorado. I don't get to see my grandparents out there very often so it was a treat! My mom and sisters drove out there on a Wendesday and I flew out Thursday afternoon to join them. I flew ALONE for the first time in my life and it wasn't quite a scary as I thought it would be. Granted, it was only to Colorado, but I still had to catch a connecting flight which means I had to navigate the airport alone which is a pretty impressive feat for those of you who know how easily I get lost! (Lindsay...) Anyway, we drove home together on Saturday so it was a short trip but very worth it! We had a blast and it was fun to hang out with my grandparents and all the Roberts girls! (That includes you, Mom!) My grandparents took us to this park that had a huge stone circle fountain thing. I was really far away from it when I took this picture which shows you how big it was! It rotated and had a little wading area around it that we all went and walked in for a little bit. It was so crowded with little kids, and by the way they were acting you would have thought it was the best waterpark in the world! It was the only part of the trip I thought to take pictures on, so there you go! The top picture is of the fountain itself, from quite a distance-that was the only way I could get the whole thing in the picture! The second picture are my gorgeous sisters, L to R: Brittney, Ashley, Emily. The last picture are my sisters, mom, and grandpa walking to the fountain. Thanks, family, I had a blast! Also on this blog, I have finally included a couple pictures of our apartment by special request. You know who you are! We have been here for almost a year (can't believe it's been that long!) and we love it. We have a great ward and it's a nice complex-very small and much better neighbors than before! The living room picture cuts off one of my bookshelves, the whole wall is books, which makes it my favorite room! So, picture another bookshelf identical to the one in the picture on the other side of the entertainment center, also full. I love my kitchen too, I actually have counter space! These pictures aren't great since they are just from my cell phone but they give you the idea. So, there you go! A new background, a new post, and pictures to boot! Does life get any better? I will be posting Lake Powell pictures soon, I just need to find my camera cord...

Shocking

I know I know, I am ACTUALLY updating my blog! Sorry, I just don't get on the computer anymore! Here's the update:
Ben:
Ben got a new job! He is now a computer programmer for a company called School Improvement Network. They create teaching software and things like that. He LOVES his new job, he has a great boss and awesome co workers. He actually gets to work with one of his closest friends, Mike, whom he has know for most of his life so that is great. It is down in Murray area, which is a decent drive but he is part of a 4 person carpool so it's not too bad. He got this job in December and has already been promoted! The best part of this job is that it is a DAY TIME job! We LOVE being able to actually see each other! We get to eat dinner together now and everything! He loves the environment there, he doesn't feel like he is going to get cheated or thrown under the bus every time he turns around like he did at the old place. This has definitely been a big improvement for him! He also recently bought himself a grill. I will post pictures of it soon, (I will honestly try!) he bought this with a dividend to REI from our credit card, so it actually didn't cost us anything. It is a really nice grill that can collapse for camping and it works out wonderfully for that. He is excited, Ben LOVES grilling! Ben is still going to school at Weber, he is been doing a fair amount of online classes but this coming fall semester he has one online class and two night classes. He is going to be very busy with that many credits plus work! Wish him luck. We actually ran into one of his professors at Walmart the other day and he recognized Ben and started talking with him, it was fun for me to see that his teacher really liked and respected Ben for working and going to school. It's a sacrifice but if anyone can do it, Ben can!
Megan:
I have changed stores! I used to manager a store in the Brickyard area-over by Sugar House. But, I have been upgraded! I took over a new store by the Fashion Place Mall in October, and it has been awesome! I was very sad to say goodbye to my cute staff in Brickyard but I love my new store! It has its own set of challenges (namely low ceilings which make it hard to display artwork sometimes) but I have an amazing staff and I love my customers! It was a great move for me, I love my job! I have also added more and more to my book collection, which will be bad when we move again. Speaking of moving, we did! We are now in the Kaysville area instead of Clearfield which was a great change. Much better area, better neighbors, and most importanly, I have my washer and dryer back! I LOVE not having to use the laundromat anymore, it's been heaven! Our new place is acutally bigger than our old one and has a much better kitchen. It is a two bedroom two bathroom which is great for when we have company over.

Well, that is pretty much the update, we are so happy to be a regular married couple now and we love our jobs, our home, and our life! We recently took a camping trip with some good friends up to Monte Cristo above Pine View that I will try to post some pictures of that later. We didn't camp in a conventional camp ground, we made our own so we had our own fire pit and it was very secluded and quiet. It was in a sort of flower meadow area surrounded by aspen trees. Beautiful! Only downside was no bathrooms...not too big of a deal for me but I had to teach the other girl there how to "rough it" in the woods! It was quite hilarious...We tested out the new grill and had excellent food cooked up by Ben, we had lots of smores, played in the lake all day, and had a wonderful little vacation all about 45 minutes from home! I will try to post more often (don't hold your breath) and I will try to get some pictures on here soon. Honest!

Hospital Visit

I know it has been a really long time since I posted, and a lot has been going on! Most recently, Ben was in the hospital for a surgery-Appendicitis! He got a really bad stomach ache about 10 days ago and called into work and took a sick day. The first time he has done that in over 2 years! The pain gradually subsided a little, enough to work. He thought it was either something he ate or a little bit of a stomach bug. But, those were actually the first signs of his appendicitis! He went for 9 days with the pain before we got some pretty strong promptings to go to the doctor. Well, the doctor didn't think it was appendicitis, and even tried to talk us out of getting a CT scan that day. Ben insisted that we schedule the CT scan immediantly. So, we went straight to the hospital and had the CT scan and sure enough, it was appendicitis. By this time, it was around 1:00 AM Sunday morning. They took us to the ER to talk to the surgeon and get checked in. While we were there one of the staff had to inform a woman that her brother/husband (we weren't sure which) had died and she started hysterically screaming his name and crying. It was horrible! I almost lost it, I HATE doctors and hospitals anyway, and I was about to send the love of my life in for surgery, and that happened! It was awful! Anyway, they told us the surgery would be at 8:00AM and so they got Ben hooked up to an IV, and put him in a room until then. He was able to get a litttle sleep, but I wasn't. :( They came and got him and did the surgery, which went well. They couldn't find his appendix at first so they had to "fish" for it, so one of his incisions is about an inch and a half long. We stayed in the hospital until abourn 9:00PM Sunday night. I was able to take him home and he is doing pretty good. Sore, but good. I hadn't slept for over 36 hours, so it was nice for me to come home too! I left out a lot of the story so I wouldn't bore anyone, but needless to say we were at the hospital from 7:00 PM Saturday until 9:00 PM Sunday, but we were so blessed that it hadn't ruptured or anything like that. We are so grateful that we listened to the prompting to get it taken care of when we did. Please keep Ben in your prayers and in your thoughts, we would appreciate it! He is able to walk around pretty well and able to eat things, but he is pretty sore and probably will be for a little while. And I promise I will post again soon, Ben has actually been working a day shift the last month or so and so I have had him home in the evenings which is awesome, and which is also why I haven't been blogging! :) I will post pictures soon of our Oklahoma trip and give a general update. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

BIG news!!!

So, I got a promotion at work! I am going to be "graduating" from the mangement training position and I am becoming a full-blown mananger! I am going to be managing my own store in Salt Lake City (I know, commuting again! Yuck!) But it is a fairly substantial pay increase (always a good thing!) and I will be in charge of my very own store! I am SO excited, but I am also really nervous. I start at my new store on Wednesday, and then on Tuesday is my yearly inventory! YIKES! It is going to be insane, but I guess I would rather jump in with both feet. The day after my inventory we are leaving for Oklahoma for 5 days, so that will be crazy too! We are going to Oklahoma because Ben's buddy Rob is getting married and Ben is a best man. We are flying standby out, so wish us luck! I had a dream that Ben and I had to take seperate flights and my flight went to Oklahoma by way of Hawaii! Weird, I know. Anyway, so wish me luck on my "new" job, I have a feeling that I am going to need it!

So Proud!

Can I just say that I am so proud of myself? I just finished some major spring cleaning! I scrubbed my floors on hands and knees before mopping it to make sure I got it really squeaky clean, I dusted and washed all the pictures in my house, I took out four garbage bags full of garbage from de-junking and cleaning out my fridge and pantry, I organized my pantry, I put together four bags for DI of old clothes and shoes, and got my laundry and grocery shopping done, all in about 4 hours! I am so good...:)

Snow, Snow, Go AWAY!

I am SO ready for spring! I am saying this as there is about a mountian of snow falling outside my apartment! I wore capris and sandals earlier this month, and now I am wearing sweaters and my winter coat again! Typical Utah weather I guess...but I am ready for Spring! So, everyone, think flowers and sunshine and BBQs and maybe we can turn the weather around by sheer will! I am having a "spring and summer day in my heart" day today, otherwise known as early spring fever! I am so done with winter! Although, I have been loving the fabulous strawberries I have been getting lately, I love fresh fruit! I am getting excited for peaches! Ben's grandpa has peach trees and we always get more than we can eat (which is saying a lot, since I LOVE good peaches) and I am also getting excited to have BBQs. I love burned hot dogs cooked on a grill. (Yes, I said burned, that is the very bestest way to eat them!) I am also excited to go to Logan canyon and have tin foil dinners and make s'mores. (Jen and Tristan, we will have to meet you there!) I can't wait to be able to wear flip flops and feel warm sun. Heck, I wouldn't even mind a good sunburn right now! I am excited for it to stay light late in the evening, and I am excited to play frisbee in the park with Ben's family, and in the backyard with my family. I can't wait to be able to drive with my windows down too! Sigh, if only the snow would stay in the mountains where it belongs! Well, oddly enough, my little I-want-it-to-be-spring therapy session worked, I feel much better! What are you looking forward to doing in the Spring and Summer seasons? Think Spring!

Tyler's B-Day, Anniversary, Crazy Eyes!

So, I have realized that I haven't been as diligent in posting pictures as I would like to be, so I am going to fix that right now! We are going back to February with my nephew's thrid birthday party and will work forward from there!

We did a make-your-own-pizza night, it was a lot of fun! We got to roll our our own dough and everything!

Tyler got a dinosaur for one of his gifts, it makes sounds and he loves it! He is really into dinos.
Opening gifts

More gifts!

Here is where our anniversary pictures start. I forgot to take any pictures at the theater where we saw Phantom, but take my word for it, it was AMAZING! We loved it! I also forgot to take any pictures of the hotel room and newly remodeled lobby, sorry! I was so excited to look at everything that was new myself that I forgot about the camera! But, it was all beautiful and it was really fun to stay in the Presidential suite! Ben took me to the Melting Pot for our anniversary, it is an all-fondue restaurant and it was really yummy! I think that if we ever go back though we will just do dessert. It was not too expensive to just get dessert for a couple and it was by far the best part of the meal!

This is the cheese. The way the restaurant works is there are four courses, you start with a chesse, then get a salad, then your main course, then your dessert. We chose the Mexican cheese, without knowing it had beer in it! (Not fully cooked out, either!) It was dang good though! It had lots of salsa and jalapenos in it. I would have like it a little spicier, but it was good. They bring chips, different types of breads, veggies, and apples to dip. I didn't dip any apples, but I ate them plain! :)

Close up of the cheese

Main Course! This platter was loaded! It came with lobster, shrimp, chicken, steak, filet mignon, artichoke/spinach ravioli, and veggies. Ben discovered that he doesn't really like lobster. I think the smells of all the raw meats got to him a little and that might have affected his experience. It was kind of weird to just have a big ole plate of raw meats!

Main course again, there was like 10 different dipping sauces and butters for all the meats and stuff, it was hard to keep it all straight!

Main course again

Ben, after the main course, and ALMOST too full for dessert. Almost.

I, on the other hand, had been looking forward to dessert from the minute I walked in the restaurant! I am ready, bring it on! Please notice that I am wearing a hoodie with a three on it to symbolize how many years it has been...

DESSERT! This all the stuff we got to dip in the chocolate! There is cheesecake, pound cake, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows rolled in both graham crackers crumbs and oreo crumbs, brownies and rice krispies. Can you blame me for being so excited about it now?!?!

This is the chocolate that we chose, it was a blend of dark chocolate and white chocolate, but there are lots of different ones that I want to try, there was like 12 options of chocolate! YUMMY!

Sorry this is blurry, we are laughing! (Probably cause we are a little tipsy from the beer in our cheese! :) )

The glare from the sun reflecting off the windows of the building across the street was a little blinding, but we did the best we could! I love you, Ben!

And last, but not least, (these are from Sunday) I have always had what my hubby calls "crazy eyes", where I can cross one eye but not the other. I can do it in both directions, and I can even move them independent of one another! So, I discovered on Sunday that my mom and my little sister Emily can do it to! They are beginners so it is a little harder to see their eyes doing it, but one look at the following pictures should help show everyone why my husband married me. I am so hot right now...

There you go! Crazy eyes! I made this face at Ben the first time we met and he was a goner. (Just kidding, he probably would have run screaming the other direction!)

Aren't we all SO cute?!

Just a picture of my gorgeous mom to prove that, even if she can do crazy eyes, she is still beautiful!

I love this picture, Ben was trying to help Brittney with some of her math (which is harder than anything I ever did in college!) and her face is exactly how I would feel about math homework! :)