Vegas "Getaway"

So these past couple weeks have been full of exciting events! The end of the semester is coming and the weather has finally gotten nice! General Conference was great and we enjoyed attending sessions in the conference center and sitting down with the general authority's familys (thank you Travis!) We even got a little suntan after sitting outside, who would have thought!! Rachel attended her last class at BYU ever, and a then a last-minute 6 day trip to fabulous Las Vegas! The only thing wrong with the situation was that the trip was taken just by Tyler, as Rachel stayed home ... working and taking finals - Lame!


The above picture is a bit misleading because he wasn't leaving his wife for fun on the strip, his company had a last minute deal to go down and install their automation system in this very formal $4 million dollar home (see below) So he's staying at some random cheap hotel, down with a couple guys from the company working 12 hour days. Since it was so-last minute, they had only 2 days to completely install the house.

There is a Parade of Homes down in Vegas this month so thousands of people will be coming through this home. Tyler gets to show off what their company can actually do in this house rather than sitting in the garage with a tv like he had done in other Parades. It was a pretty good last minute opportunity, it's just been really stressful for Tyler and a long week for Rachel. Tyler headed down early Tuesday morning and is heading home tonight (Sunday) so 6 days later .. we can celebrate the end of the semester haha.

Obviously this house is pretty big, and they wanted 8 plasma TVs! I figured they just wanted one in every bathroom and bedroom wall possible, but then Tyler sent the following picture...

I don't really understand the need for 3 tvs on one wall, especially when they're all showing the same movie on all three AND they're in the "billiards room" -- which doesn't look like the coziest setting. Either way, they wanted to drop the bucks, so they're not going to stop them. There have been several people who have been very interested in the company so hopefully this crazy week will all be worth it in the end.

One last final on Tuesday -- then Rachel will officially be a BYU Grad!!

Maybe one day we'll have a backyard like this???

The rest of March

Tyler and I had a fun easter by eating dinner with my grandparents and other extended family up in Salt Lake. We also went with Paige and got to pose with the Easter bunny, lucky us! My mom still gets Paige and I easter dresses and now Tyler even gets an Easter tie -- and of course she gets it to match my dress ..

Here is a pic with my cousins and grandpa posing out by the golf course. On my dad's side of the family, I only have two cousins - here they are - Dure & Sarah. A little different from the typical Mormon family reunion haha. Anyways, my grandpa really is a nice guy - he just refuses to smile for pictures. Even at our wedding it was a struggle to get him to grin just a little bit...

I walked into our bedroom one night after doing homework in the other room to find this scene. Ty just looked so comfy on our huge bed. For those of you who have been to our little apartment, you've probably felt our soft bed. Ty has pretty much everyone feel it because we're both obsessed with it! As Tyler says -- go King or go Home .. ok he doesn't really say that - but we love our King bed.

Last weekend I took a quick trip down to Arizona to be with family and go to my friend Brook's wedding reception. Here are some pictures...

Now Tyler & I are getting ready to leaave Provo. I graduate this month! April 24th - can't believe it! But now that I'll be working full time in Murray, we'll be wanting to live a bit closer to Salt Lake. Tyler's job takes him all over the valley, but he's finding himself in SLC more and more often, so it will be good for both of us. It will be weird to leave Provo - I've been here for 4 years, Tyler's been here ... well .... forever, right?? Well , life is changing but we still are loving each other more and more each day. It's been a great 13 months of marraige. We love seeing all your updates as well!

Tyler Writes

Rachel has been saying I need to post on our blog for a long time. I go in the other room to make a phone call and guess what pops up on my screen while I'm away!? So here I am entering the blogosphere..

Rach and I are staying busy, I'm very proud of Rachel, she's doing quite the balancing act right now. She is finishing up her accounting degree this semester (Tuesday, Thursdays) and working 8 hour days Monday, Wednesday, Friday with her new accounting firm Child, VanWagoner, Bradshaw. When I stop and think about how talented she is it really amazes me.

I should probably introduce Rachel to some of my friends who moved away from Provo before we were married. She is from Mesa, AZ. She is the oldest of four children, one sister at BYU (who happens to be dating my lil bro!), a bro in high school, and the cutest 8 year-old brother I've ever seen. Rachel is a great runner, she won the 800 meter run for Arizona in high school, and was all-state jazz choir, and obviously very smart to be an accountant. I know I'm bragging, but she really motiviates me to develop my talents. She is a constant reminder of what hard work can become, she is obedient (to a fault, if that is such a thing). For all of you who know me, you know I'm the opposite. I'm naturally kind of a person who slides by, and normally bend rules, etc.. So she helps me get more to the good side.

Some things most of you will never know about Rachel.. she has a 1000 different voices for different moods, loves to jump in my arms, is always up for a good cuddle (which I'm always willing to do), is a great dancer, and is actually really ghetto.

There's a little info on Rachel, in terms of what I'm up to. I'm working on Imperium Smart Systems, a company that focuses on home automation and home theater. Quick example, we tie in a home's systems. We program it so a homeowner can push a "Goodbye" button on a touch screen and the security system will arm, lights go off, thermostat turns down, and music turns off. The trend nationally is very good for our product, and we've done well in making our self well-known. We won a national Microsoft competition, and I was interviewed today by a writer for USA Today! So that's pretty sweet. It's been a great learning experience trying to create something from scratch, it's ten times harder than I thought it would be, but it has also been very rewarding.

Anyway, for all of those who read this know that I enjoy keeping tabs on you and hope life is joyful! Please keep in touch!

One Year Anniversary!!!

Well one year ago (February 16th) we were married in Mesa, Arizona!

It's been an amazing first year for us and we're excited to start the new year together.

Tyler surprised me on our anniversary. It was on a Saturday so we were able to be together most of the day -- legit, holla!

We started the day by spending the night at Ashley & Tom's cabin in Midway on Friday night. We woke up with a lovely breakfast provided by the Swapps. Then we went down to Provo and went to the Provo Temple. It was quite different weather from our wedding at the temple in Mesa, just 40 degrees colder this year ... But it was great to be in the temple one year later.

Then we went over to Grandpa's for some shakes -- a tradition that's been fun throughout the year.

That night Tyler surprised me and we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

We had good steak and they even brought us a dessert to celebrate our anniversary -- double chocolate .. mmm.

After dinner, Tyler had told me we were going to a Hotel so I had packed my bag before dinner. Unsure of where we were going -- we ended up here ...

Tyler's sisters Ashley & Jamie had decorated our apartment with roses similar to how Tyler proposed. It was super cute and super unexpected -- I was actually glad we were able to sleep at home. Our bed is better than any other hotel bed (and we had 8:00 church the next morning anyways...)

All in all it was a great day!!!

Oh.. and we were able to eat the cake from our wedding! Our cake company allowed us to get the top layer of our cake re-made for free on our anniversary if we gave them a studio quality picture of it for them to use. So we got it! And it was amazing!

Steven's Baptism

Our little brother Steven was baptized on Saturday so Tyler, Paige and I went down to Mesa for the weekend.

My mom planned it out perfectly to involve everyone: Paige and I sang a duet, Tyler gave the baptism talk, my brother baptized him, my dad confirmed him and my mom just sat back and watched it all happen.
It was pretty cool to see my 16 year old brother baptize my eight year old brother. They both seem to little to be doing this right now .. but I'm glad they're getting older and making the right choices so far!
Steven lost one of his front teeth last month so ... he had the lovely gap with the big tooth awkwardly coming in. Even so, he still looked so cute!
ALl dressed up in his suit...
After the baptism, family and friends came over to my house for a great lunch. Croissant sandwiches, yummy salads, the classic desserts I love! It was great ... and of course Steven got plenty of baptism books, hymn books, bookmarks, etc. and he allowed me to bring me all his presents while he sat in the big chair..
It was a great weekend with blue skies, green grass, and 75 degree weather!!

Chrismas & New Years Photos

Staring January 1, 2007, my seven-year-old brother hasn't drank soda! He set a new years resolution to drink No root beer floats, no sprite, martinellis, anything! We didn't think it would last long...but he did it! And at the stroke of midnight he drank a cup of root beer and almost spit it out becuase it was "too spicy on his tongue" (See the above picture) It was really entertaining actually... My dad gave him a $50 bill. He was freaking out becuase he'd never had a bill that big!

Christmas Break

It's been a month!! We hope you all had a great holiday season! The Jennings family was able to be re-united when Ashley came down from BYU Idaho. We all got together for Travis' birthday dinner at Golden Corral... I guess it's a Jennings tradition?? I choked it down just fine.
But we weren't all able to be together for Christmas because we went down to Arizona as soon as finals ended.

We drove down through Las Vegas on Saturday and were able to go the Vegas Bowl that night. For anyone else who drove down that day, this picture describes a lot. Traffic was terrible and for over an hour we were stop and go, driving no faster than 20 mph. Luckily we left early enough that we weren't crunched for time. I was able to hang out the sun roof, chat with passing cars and snap a few pictures of the crazy road conditions. This was all due to one lane being closed for about 1/4 mile, so lame.


But we finally got to the game all decked out in our blue attire, surpised at how cold the game was! While it was fun to be there, it really was a lame game. I just wish I could have felt better about the win, we had honestly accepted defeat before the last field goal was blocked. But a win is a win, I guess!

Right after the game ended we took of for Mesa, we pulled in about 2:15 am and made it to church the next morning at 8:30. Quite the crazy night!

We got Suns tickets for Christmas and were able to go to the Suns-Clippers game at the end of December. Rachel is a huuuge fan and Tyler is still learning....