Happy 25th Birthday Boolie! A Post By Clark?

25 Years ago today Jamilyn Jardine Bell was born in Bismarck, North Dakota. In honor of my best friend, eternal companion, and love of my life I wanted to wish Jamilyn a Happy 25.

Here are 25 attributes/things I love about my wife:

1. Her bubbly stomach laugh
2. Her love for life
3. Her beautiful mesmorizing eyes
4. Her willingness to help everyone
5. Her work ethic
6. Her love for dance
7. How she is always wanting a "treat"
8. How slow she eats (she has to eat slow in order for her to enjoy every bite)
9. How goofy she is
10. She is a great listener
11. Her testimony
12. Her memory
13. Her dancing
14. Her sense of style
15. Her sense of humor (she is almost as twisted as I am)
16. Her drive to stay healthy
17. Her commitment to family
18. Her commitment to her community
19. How intelligent she is
20. Her dedication to teaching
21. Her love of children
22. How she loves to sleep in
23. Her sexy body
24. Her support of myself, and how crazy I am
25. Her singing and harmonizing

I could go on and on

Yep, she is the ultimate wife, and simply the best. Happy Birthday JL! I am glad my first blog ever was a dedication to the love of my life.

"Dance Dance"

Every week of mine is filled with dance related issues, but this week was extra full of dancing. The Relief Society asked Clark and I to do a little dance for enrichment night this week. It was combined with the Young Women and the theme was a birthday party- through the decades. So the girls did a fashion show and a few of the women did dances. Clark and I did the Disco and I have to say, it was pretty fun. We had to bring some humor into it and got some awesome costumes. Everyone loved it and here is what we have to document our performance. This week was Alta's Dance Company concert and although I have been every year since I graduated, my sister Alli is now on the team, so this year I went to support her. She did awesome and the show was really good. The girls are very athletic and it definitely made me miss those days of rehearsing til 10 pm every day for a week.
Oh, and I got glasses. I only need to wear them when I'm trying to see things that are far away, like a concert or jazz game or the speaker in church. Anyway, I've never had glasses so it's a little weird and I'm still getting used to it, but I think it might help me look a little older. :)

4 Real?!

So Saturday night was date night with our good friends, Liz and Travis. We went to dinner, did a session at the Salt Lake Temple, then we had to get dessert. There was a short discussion as to whether we would go where the guys wanted to go, Sonic, or where the girls wanted to go, SpoonMe. The girls won, of course, and we ended up at SpoonMe, a new little yogurt place on 4th South. There was quite a line when we walked in, but it didn't take long for Liz and I to figure out who was in front of us... Twitch (from So You Think You Can Dance)! We quickly introduced ourselves and said we were big fans, then asked for a picture. He was way cool and we just had to do the "4 Real" sign in the picture. Katee (from SYTYCD) was also there, but she seemed too involved in her phone to talk to anybody she was with. If you're a fan of the show this is totally awesome! He must wear those glasses all the time.
Oh, and if you can't tell, I did lighten my hair up a little. Still getting used to it, but I like the blonde.

Long time comin

I realize that these pictures look like they were taken a while ago and that's because they were. I just haven't had time to get them on here and then I just kept taking more and more pictures. This post is a little longer than normal, but it's been a long time comin.

This is what was waiting for me at work when I walked in the day before Valentine's. It was definitely an unexpected surprise and very thoughtful of Clark. On Valentine's we went to Tucano's and it was so good. It's pretty much just like Rodizio Grill, but I think a little better. They gave a rose to every woman that came in as part of they're Valentine's dinner package. We then got my favorite dessert... gelato (birthday cake flavor)!

I can't believe that a year ago this little girl was born. Audrie, our niece is now 1 year old and is cuter than ever. This is at her birthday and she's shirtless because she's about to get messy with that chocolate cake, which is exactly what her mom wanted.

After Audrie's party, Clark and I met up with my family for a play at Desert Star Theater where you sit at a table, eat popcorn and can order food during the show. Here's me and Clark before all the action started.

The show we saw was called "Home School Musical," and it was actually pretty funny and very entertaining. This character's name was "Linoleum," who was just like Napoleon, and there was also "Zac Eflon." They poke fun at the movie, the Twilight books and Utah/Mormons. Like, one of the characters says she has experience directing musicals because she was in charge of the primary program last year. We laughed a lot and had a good time.

My aunt, uncle and cousins came with because they're all big fans of "High School Musical." They were laughing the whole time. Here's me and my sister, Alli, with our little cousin, Amanda. She's the youngest and the only girl in her family, with three brothers, and is so cute.

And I couldn't pass up a picture by the authentic old west toilet. I really had to go and no one would take me seriously... :)My mom, sisters and I got tickets to Celine Dion in November 2007 and just got to see her last week, but it was definitely worth the wait. I love Celine! I'll be honest, she's a little weird, but so so good. We saw her in Vegas, which was amazing and she obviously didn't have the same set up here, but it was still a lot of fun. She always takes me back to my junior high days belting " You gave me wings and made me fly, you touched my hand, I could touch the sky... because you loved me eeeee eee" in my bedroom over and over. She is such an entertainer and I loved every second of it. And finally, this weekend I got together with some of my dance friends from college for dinner and bowling with our hubby's and significant others. It's always good to catch up and make sure everyone is doing well. I miss those times of dancing every day for hours, but I'm definitely ok with not doing it every day. I'm just thankful that dance will always be a part of my life.

Hopefully it won't be another 2 weeks before I get another post up here.

Love...

Since Valentine's is tomorrow, I thought I would share just a few thoughts on love...

First, I love my husband. Today when I got to work there was a vase of 12 roses and a bag with a teddy bear and chocolate covered strawberries inside. He's so good at doing cute things like that and it's just one of the many qualities I love about him.

Secondly, and on a lighter note, kids are so lovable. I go to my mom's school and help in her 1st grade class about three times a week. I often complain and am usually not excited to get up early to hang art projects from the ceiling, but the kids always put a smile on my face. When ever I walk in they all say (at different times), "Jaaay mee!" and I usually get about 10 or so hugs from those who aren't following directions and run out of their seats to put their arms around me. I then get a second round of hugs when I'm out in the hall and they walk by in their line to go to computers or lunch. And, if I'm lucky, a few hugs when I'm leaving. One day, I walked into the gym, while they were having P.E. and was attacked by the whole class. They knocked me over and I had a pretty nice bruise on both knees.

There's a little boy named Cairo, who looks like he should be in kindergarten he's so little, that seems to really like me. It takes him a little longer to finish his work, so I seem to spend a lot of time working with him. Today he told me he loved me and it was so stinking cute. Then, another boy made fun of him so he kept saying it over and over just to be funny.

Lastly, I've heard from so many of my friends, who are moms, that the love they feel for their babies is so incredible. I can't wait to someday share that feeling of not knowing that you could love someone as much as you love your little girl or boy.

And I love all of you! Happy Valentines Day!

I've been tagged! 8 THINGS ABOUT ME

Here are the Rules:

1) Post rules on your blog

2) Answer the six '8' items

3) Add a random picture of yourself

4) Let each person know by leaving them a comment...PS these 8 items in each category don't have to be in order.

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS

1. The Office

2. Grey's Anatomy

3. The Bachelor/Bachelorette

4. American Idol

5. So You Think You Can Dance

6. The Hills (I know I know)

7. What Not to Wear

8. Oprah

8 THINGS I DID TODAY (I'm going to do this for yesterday because I have done nothing except sleep in and blog today)

1. Had a delicious bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats

2. Went to Gold's gym and watched the Dark Knight while doing my cardio

3. Took a shower

4. Went into work for a couple hours

5. Went to Partner Yoga with Clark and Rachelle and Dustin. It was actually really fun.

6. Ate at an old restaurant called Italian Village and laughed at how cute and funny Kohen is.

7. Got the most delicious Gelato...Birthday cake flavor

8. Watched two episodes of Lost. We just started season 1 and are way into it.

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Going to the gym, just because I know I'll feel better after

2. Weekends- sleep, go out with friends, spend time with Clark

3. Going skiing again, we went last week and it was so great.

4. Having a child... someday. Don't worry.

5. Monday nights, because my girl friends come over to watch the Bachelor

6. Any day I get to watch and play with my niece.

7. My birthday. So I like getting presents, who doesn't?

8. Going on vacation. Clark and I are hoping to do a humanitarian trip this summer.

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

1. Cafe Rio

2. Samurai Sushi

3. Paradise Bakery... fire roasted tomato soup... mmm

4. Benihana

5. Blimpie

6. Spaghetti Factory

7. Guadalahonky's (mostly the chips and salsa)

8. Chili's (mostly the chips and salsa)

8 PEOPLE I TAG

Rachelle, Emily Dowdle, Liz, Laura Nielsen, Laura Cates, Holly, Heidi, Angi

A somewhat typical week

This last week would've been just another typical week: working, dancing, going to the gym, watching the Bachelor, American Idol, the Office and the Biggest Loser. But since Emily was in town, some of us girls got together for dinner and then headed to an adult hip hop/breakdancing class that Laura told us all about. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Gev, from So You Think You Can Dance, was the teacher. Ok, I was ecstatic inside! It was way fun and he was pretty cool in person. Note: Rachelle is pregnant, not fat.

On Saturday night, we headed to South Towne Expo for the car show. Clark was loving it and I was just there to share Clark's excitement when he saw the Bentley.
It was fun seeing all the expensive cars that I'll probably only get to sit in at a car show. Here's me in my future "mom car:" the Escalade Hybrid.

And here's Clark next to a Lincoln MKZ. I don't know what's so cool about it, except that it looks pretty sweet.
I also got to sit in one of my favorite cars, the Audi A4 convertible, and Clark sat in several others. Clark is making me include the following cars:
Chevrolet Camaro
Lotus Elise
1968 Shelby Cobra Mustang GT500KT

Pretty cool, I guess.

Holiday breaks are awesome!

I was lucky to get two full weeks off of work in order to breathe before the craziness of owning a business starts again. Clark only had to go in a few days over the break and we were lucky to spend lots of time together. Here are a couple activities we did over the awesome holiday break. Clark's parents took us out to sushi for a Christmas Eve dinner. It's a great little place up on Wasatch and the sushi was really good. I got a seaweed salad and this is how it came to the table. So cute and so good!

Apparently, Wednesdays are kareoke night at the resaurant and the chef gave us free crab for participating. Clark and his mom sang three songs, while Clark's dad and I watched and cheered them on/laughed. They got pretty into it, if you can't tell.

After this awesome dinner, we headed down to Little America, where my mom and little sis were staying, and relaxed in the hot tub for a while. Little different, but way fun.

This is what our cute, little tree looked like on Christmas morning. I really love Christmas and all it's decorations! Thank you Clark, and family, for all the great gifts. We then headed back to Little America for a delicious Christmas brunch. This might just be a new tradition in our family.
A few days later, us girls (and our families) got together for an awesome Christmas party. Did I mention it was hosted by me? It was a lot of fun to catch up and play games with my beautiful girlfriends.

Over the course of the break, we spent lots of time with family playing games, going to movies and going out to eat. We even went to Body Worlds which was really neat. Our holiday break was a lot of fun and now it's back to normal life. But normal life is pretty good too.