New Projects

When Joel and I were shopping for Christmas presents for his family (we had Christmas at his family's 12/19 because we are going to Texas for Christmas) he found a strange fascination with the cooking aisles. So while we were looking at jars I thought that I could use them and add vinyl lettering from my Cricut for Christmas gifts - at least for Mike and Nikki and Joel's mom. We picked out a cookie jar for Mom Wenerstrom and Oil & Vinegar dressing containers for Mike & Nikki. So here are pictures of my newest projects with my Cricut (which is almost all my projects since school has taken so much of my time this semester).

"Grandma's Cookie Jar"














"Oil & Vinegar"

Happy!

So I thought I'd post a happy blog today. I'm in a really good mood today even though I have a cold and I'm pretty tired. So I took four classes this semester, a pretty light load. If I had realized that if I took one more I wouldn't have to go to another semester I would have done that, but oh well. So yesterday marked the first day of finals and I gave them a running start. Because I am a senior most of my finals are scheduled. So I had a 7 am final and a 2 pm final yesterday, then a 7 am final today (my last final isn't until Friday, yuck). So anyways, at my 7 am final this morning my professor returned our research paper. While I'm normally decent at writing, lets just say this semester hasn't really reflected that. So I didn't have very high hopes for the paper. But I looked at it...and I got an A! Yay! It made my week! All the time I spent on that paper actually paid off! So I was really happy.
And another thing to be happy about...about a month and a half ago Joel and I found out that I'm pregnant. So there will be a little Wenerstrom coming to our family next year in June. After being unsure about how we felt for a while, we've decided that we're excited. We're officially due June 23 (just two days before my birthday, which was one of my many due dates). So we are thirteen weeks along today (well, really it's just me who's 13 weeks along, Joel's just along for the emotional ride).

Done with elections

Can I just say how VERY happy I am that the elections are over! I was so sick of listening to everyone bicker and complain about who was better and what America needed, and who was a terrible person because of something or other. If I was Bush I would be very happy right now to be out of the political scene. Now we can complain about something else for the next four years!

Halloween

I love Halloween, so this year I decided that I am going to throw a Halloween dinner party and make fun invitations. Well, I really just wanted to make the invitations, but I guess I'll go through with the party too. So last weekend I made the invitations and I think they turned out really cute. I couldn't find a template for the card I wanted because I wanted the envelope to open up into the card, so I made my own template, which took quite a while. And because I chose glittery orange for one of the background mats the invite part doesn't stick very well to it, the glue just sticks to the glitter and falls off. Also because of the beautiful "sugar crusted tangerine" paper our apartment is covered in glitter. But I thought I would share pictures (if I can figure out how to add them).

New Layout

AHH! So we have a new layout. This about stretched my brain capacity for the day, but I have finally learned how to change a layout! I found this online and thought it was really cute. It seemed like everyone else had fun fall layouts so I decided to give it a try. Plus I wanted a cute Halloween one because I love Halloween! It's a fun time for cutesy projects.

Cricut

Last week a co-worker and I went in together and bought some vinyl lettering (like what you put on your est. signs or walls) to save on shipping. We actually ended up not paying shipping at all because the person we ordered from lives in Alpine so I just went and picked it up. Well, we were both really excited because I found this blog and the lady does the vinyl lettering for much cheaper than most stores or people sell it for. So on Wednesday Joel and I made the trip to Alpine to pick up my new treats. I wrote out the check for $58.50 and opened up my package. Lets just say I felt a bit cheated. The letting was great and I'm so excited to decorate with my new fun things, but I'm not sure it was quite worth how much we paid for it. So I began to research how much vinyl cutting machines and vinyl cost. I fount a place that sells the vinyl for $1/ft. Most machines were actually very expensive, running around $500-$1,200. But I found out the the new machine by ProvoCraft, the Cricut Expression can cut vinyl lettering. So I looked into it. On the Cricut website this machine is $499. Ouch. I found it on another site for $299, looking better, but then I looked on ebay. Joel said I could bid on one, so I did and won it for $247.00. Yes! So that is my Christmas present...a bit early. I'm so excited! I'll post pictures of my vinyl letters (the ones I just bought) as soon as I get them applied to my walls and such.

Another questionnaire

I'm taking a cue from Kari, I wasn't tagged but it looked fun and I'm bored. So why not? So the questions can only be responded to with one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? Joel
3. Your hair? blondish
4. Your mother? eclectic
5. Your father? calm
6. Your favorite thing? Joel
7. Your dream last night? Forgot
8 Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? P.h.D.
10. The room you’re in? lab
11. Your hobby? scrapbooking
12. Your fear? teeth
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
14. What you’re not? tan
15. Muffins? lemon
16. One of your wish list items? scooter
17. Where you grew up? Texas
18. The last thing you did? work
19. What are you wearing? scrubs
20. Favorite gadget? wii
21. Your pets? none... :(
22. Your computer? gone
23.Your mood? tired (is that a mood?)
24. Missing someone? Joel
25.Your car? Bella...also gone
26. Something you’re not wearing? socks
27. Favorite store? Smith's
28. Like someone? Joel
29. Your favorite color? PINK!
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? forgot

I tag Kari! Because I can. And Katie.

Joel's 23!

Joel had a birthday Septermber 14. Unfortunately I work every Sunday, so I couldn't be there on Sunday to celebrate his actual birthday with him. So to make up (in advance) for my absence I did a "birthday week" for him and celebrated his birthday every day for him! So Monday I made a nice dinner for him of rice, chicken with a lemon-chive sauce, and corn. It was very beautiful on the plate, but unfortunately was perhaps the worst meal I have ever prepared. I didn't make fancy dinners for the rest of the week but I did give him little presents every day with sappy little notes. On Saturday (the day before his birthday) we went up to South Jordan and had a little party with his parents and grand-parents and some of our siblings and friends. It was fun, but enough things had gone wrong during the week (like the dinner) that I was happy that the week was over and that birthdays only come around once a year.

The Five

Okay Kari, this is for you since you tagged me and I haven't updated in a while.


10 years ago I was:
1. Twelve
2. Living in Houston, TX
3. Homeschooled
4. Terribly awkward
5. Just entering Young Women's

5 things on my list today:
1. Go to church (done)
2. Read my Rhetoric homework (doing...kind of)
3. Work (currently there)
4. Read my scriptures
5. sleep

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Ice cream
2. recently--chocolate
3. caramel
4. granola bars
5. yogurt (that counts as a snack, right?)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a house
2. Buy lots of books
3. donate to charity
4. adopt a child or maybe even two
5. Put Joel through medical school...oh wait, we're going to do that anyways...

5 places I have lived:
1. Great Mills, Maryland
2. Braidwood, Illinois
3. Houston, Texas
4. Safford, Arizona
5. Provo/Orem, Utah

5 jobs I have had:
1. Cato ( A women's clothing/apparel store)
2. BYU Catering
3. Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Microbiology (lab)
4. Intermountain Medical Center Central Lab Microbiology
5. UVRMC Front Deck outpatient services

I tag no one. Well, maybe Leslie..am I friends with Leslie on this? Who knows.

My Birthday (Arielle)

I have the cutest husband in the world! So I turned 22 yesterday (June 25). Joel Kept me up until midnight on the 24th and gave me my present. He got me Daisy perfume which I love. Then we both worked yesterday. He picked me up after work and had a beautiful bouquet of pink flowers. Then he brought me around to all of the places we went on the day we got engaged. We went swinging on the swings at Farrer Elementary school, then he brought me for a walk up Rock Canyon. We went to the spot that he proposed and he turned over a rock that had a piece of paper taped to the bottom that said "SHMILY" which means "see how much I love you". He used to put smily papers in my stuff when we were engaged. It's so cute! Then we went out to Macaroni Grill which is also where we ate the night we got engaged. Such a wonderful birthday!

The Beginning

The first time I met Joel was at his house on halloween. I was roommates with his sister Nikki and she had invited me up to see her neice Anna in her halloween costume and meet her family (mainly Joel because she wanted to set us up because she knew that I like skinny guys and Joel is VERY skinny). Joel had just gotten home from his mission earlier that week and was on the couch sick. A fun thing about Joel is that he loves yo-yo's and is very good and doing tricks with his yo-yo's. So his family asked him to do some tricks for us. During one of his tricks he landed it wrong and hit himself in the middle of his forehead with his yo-yo. So my first impression of Joel was that he was a bit goofy--and blonde.

After that Joel was around our apartment occassionally to visit Nikki, but then in January he moved into the house two doors down from us and started at BYU. After that he was at our apartment constantly! We started spending some time together and really enjoying talking to one another. The first week in February we went to "The Fray" concert at UVSC and he took me to a doctors appointment I had the next day for an out-patient procedure. At this point Kari told me to watch out because she though Joel liked me. I insisted that we were just friends and he didn't like me like that, he was just a really nice person.

Not too long after that I realized that he really did like me! The week before Valentines day we were watching a movie together at my apartment and about halfway through the movie he reached over and held my hand. That was Wednesday and by that weekend we were boyfriend and girlfriend. We spent every moment we could with each other and pretty soon we realized that we were madly in love with each other.

The Saturday before Mother's Day Joel brought me beautiful pink irises and brought me up into Rock Canyon and proposed. Yay! We got married July 28, 2007 in the Jordan River Utah Temple. It was a beautiful, if hectic, day.