Stolen!

I've said this before and I'll say it again- I am the worst blogger ever. EVER! I Facebook and Instagram every day, but I cannot seem to blog. Hmmm... New Years resolution, perhaps??

These last few months have been chaotic with moving into Trevors parents house, both Trevor and I starting school and working full time. I will slowly begin updating my blog starting today (hopefully)..

This first post is incredibly long  somewhat lengthy, so get comfortable.

Back in August while Trevor and I were at the gym, my gym locker was broken into and my purse was stolen. I carry everything in my purse. My kindle, makeup, glasses, iPhone... (I had every picture since Trevor and I were married on that phone. Our first holidays together, Camping trips, vacations... everything.)

This particular night I had put my wedding ring in my purse while I was working out, like I've done numerous times. It was GONE. Trevor had trusted me to take good care of his grandmas diamond and not even a year later it was stolen. I was devastated. After filling out police reports, I went home and instantly starting contacting the news and radio stations asking for help finding this woman. By the next day, my Facebook post had over 25,000 shares and KSL was coming over to do a story about it. It aired the next day:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=26420524

I knew it was a long shot of ever getting it back, but I wasn't giving up hope of at least catching her and sending her to jail. I spent night and day on eBay hoping they were trying to sell it, I was following people into pawn shops  and may have followed a few home thinking they were my thief. For weeks, I was obsessed with catching this girl. 

LOOONG story short, 36 days after my ring was stolen, my detective called saying he had caught her. She had a criminal record and had already been arrested 19 times. She admitted to stealing my purse, throwing everything else away, but said she sold my ring to Tresor in Gateway mall for $250...TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS! 

She and the detective went down to the store, where the store owner lied about having it (then admitted to having it after the detective threatened them) pulled out receipts that they themselves had forged that said they had bought it for $650.00... it was a MESS! Eventually I was able to drive down there and identify the ring, also bringing Amy, who is a jeweler, along to identify my diamond.

My detective was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and worked night and day on this case. I may or may not have called him every single day, asking for an update- so I'm sure he is thrilled that he doesn't have to deal with me anymore! 

KSL did a follow up interview with me, and my story was plastered all over the internet.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=26924628

I was interviewed on the Z Morning Zoo on 97.1

 My story was on the front page of the Daily Herald.

My story was in the newspaper in Boston, New Jersey,Denver, Idaho, Chicago, Florida, New York,even The U.K! There is even a little YouTube video about my story! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1DrteCSOEo

I am beyond grateful to have this bad boy back on my hand. It has been over 2 months since I got it back, and I still catch myself looking down at it and smiling. Thank goodness for second chances... I will never again leave my ring anywhere but in a safe at home. 

Bikes

A few month before Trevor and I got married, we talked about how it would be fun to get bikes once we had the wedding paid off. I had a vision of us leisurely riding our bikes on the parkway, and one day getting a bike trailer for our kids to ride in. 

When we went to purchase our bikes, I realized that Trevor and I had two totally different visions. 

He wanted road bikes; which won't work with a bike trailer and as I found out DO NOT come with kickstands. What kind of a bike doesn't come with a kickstand?

 It took some convincing, as my happy vision had now been crushed- but we ended up buying the road bikes, complete with the sexy padded spandex shorts, jerseys and clip in pedals.

 We've had our bikes for a few months and they have been great. 

We go on bike rides a few times a week, and I've made it up to 20 miles.

 Trevor will go on the nights I have school, so he is much quicker and can go farther than I can. 

A typical bike ride of ours looks something like this:

You can barely see him, but Trevor is at the very top of the road,

 and he's usually this far ahead of me- if I'm lucky

 he get's stuck at a red light and has to wait for me. 

We've had a lot of fun with our bikes and I'm really glad we have found another fun hobby we can do together!

And don't you worry, I will get my happy vision- complete with a bike trailer for our kids...and kickstands. 

Kuwait

Last week, our niece as deployed to Kuwait with the Air Force.

 She is stationed at Ali Al Salam Air Force Base, working as a nurse technician for six months.

 

We met at the airport and said our goodbyes. It was really sad, but at the same time- we are grateful she is only going to Kuwait and not Afghanistan.

 

Ali Al Salam is located 23 miles from the Iraqi boarder- not TOO close, but closer than I'd like!

Average temperature in the summer is between 108 and 114 degrees. She was told they mostly treat patient for dehydration, so she should be nice and safe.

We are so proud of Amanda and cannot wait to have her safely home again!

Hiking We Will Go

It is actually starting to feel like spring and we couldn't be more excited! 

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, we went hiking with Jessie and Matt. 

We ended up hiking Mill D North Fork Trail up Big Cottonwood Canyon. 

  

It started out sunny and dry- but the more and more we hiked,
 the more and snow there was.

Eventually there was no longer a dirt trail, but tons and tons of snow. 

We hiked for a good mile then stopped to have lunch. 

After lunch we decided we had had enough of the snow and headed back down.

Despite our cold feet and a few stumbles on the muddy ice, we had a great time!

We are looking forward to many more hikes this year!

Jazz Game

Trevor and I went to the Jazz Vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game.

Despite only being 16 rows from the floor, the people in front of us still used binoculars- which I found humorous.

 

Mint chocolate chip ice cream and  a close encounter with the Jazz bear topped it off!

It was a great date night!



Disneyland

A few weeks ago, we went to Disneyland with Trevors' family. It was my first official vacation with the Cottams, and it was so much fun!

 We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which was right in Downtown Disney-and allowed us to get into the parks an hour before they opened.We felt pretty special.

I loved loved LOVED Disneyland!

We went on a lot of the kiddie ride with Eli and Gracie.

 They really likes the spinning rides, and rode them multiple times so I opted to watch the strollers and take pictures after the first few.

They would have been happy riding the Teacups and Goofy's Sky School all day.

Splash Mountain, Grizzly River Run and Indiana Jones were my favorite rides.

I even went on my first roller coaster in 15 years and loved it!

We went to Goofys Kitchen for a character breakfast and Ariel's Grotto for luch with the princesses.

Cars Land was very cool but very busy. Once we have kids, maybe I will understand why parents were standing in lines for 3 hours.

 The best part was Mater wishing Eli a happy birthday. He LOVES cars.

We watched The World of Color which was amazing!

I can now say that I am obsessed with Disneyland and cannot wait to go back! It really is the Happiest place on Earth!

We are the Cottams!

Trevor and I were married October 5, 2012 in the Salt Lake Temple.

We live in a cute townhouse in Midvale, but are hoping to build soon!

We like hanging out with friends, going to the newest movies, Jazz games, cuddling, playing card or board games, Utah Football games (he enjoys watching the games, I enjoy sitting next to him while reading People magazine).

We also enjoy going to the gym, watching How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family. Watching the Bachelor, (I enjoy wacthing it, he enjoys watching my reactions) sleeping in, (while cuddling) and are both really enjoying this new married life. :)