because it's been a week and the hub-cap is blogging next to me.

haha. Okay, I suppose I could talk about how school is going...

Well. It's going well.

I have a prehistoric life class and there's a lady in the class who brings her dog in a purse and it's the cutest little thing! The littlest and cuddliest and I want to stroke it's huge ears and make it wear blinged out hoodies! awwww. And I have to take a field trip to a Dinosaur Museum! Fun-zo!

Also, my Creative Writing prof. is a huge-o hippie. Right out of the flower power era, for sure. Should be fun, but possibly exhausting at the same time. And I think i'm gonna kick butt in that class, seeing as I like to be all write-y and stuff. (See? It's already seeping from me like ketchup from a packet.)

My Editing prof is named Marj which is super fun and also she's on a cruise this week. Lucky her. I think that it's gonna be a fun class. Also, we're taking a field trip to Adobe sometime! I'll see Sean and show off my handsome hub to the class cuz i'm awesome. Correction, we're awesome.

Brit Lit. is alright. I'm learning stuff and it's interesting. I can't wait to read Charles Dickens, though!! awesome. he's awesome.

I hate the winter. When it's too cold to step outside in anything less than 3 to 7 shirts, a large winter coat, both leggings and jeans, thick socks, and heavy boots, I only ever want to stay inside and cuddle. But, to be honest, that's all I really ever want to do. I can't wait until the day I can slip back into my shorts and tee shirts and strut around the park with a kite string in my hand and the warm breeze keeping my cheap, plastic aircraft afloat. I'll probably get a dog so we can walk around and toss a frisbee without worrying about frostbite or losing the little pup in the mounds of powdery white.

If you can't tell, I'm feeling a little... what's the word... creatively wordy  I'm sure that's not right, but it's night and I'm tired of searching. I figured it out. loquacious. duh. Anyway, I'm in a creative writing class and I keep coming up with fantastic ideas and then I can't express them just right. I'll keep working on it and report back eventually. I am, however, proud of my poem entitled Chaos, which is a jumble of synonyms and antonyms of Chaos in a chaotic manner (askew, oddly spaced, chopped up, etc.). I think I might even get a check plus for it. Please, hold your applause.

If I have something really great, I will most certainly share it with my loyal and obviously intrigued readers. But, until I have something substantial that wouldn't require me re-formatting anything, then i'm just going to leave you hanging.

So it's late and, as you might have guessed, I am tired. I kept waking up for no real reason last night and I just want to crawl into bed and be wrapped in soft blankets and Sean's Minnesota-Warm (is that a thing?) arms and drift softly to a dreamland where I don't get pregnant or have to encounter past acquaintances (good or not-so-good) and figure out which one is my real husband or have to wait in line for hours to get a mandatory elbow surgery where you get an anesthesia shot, go into the operating room, come out 3 minutes later with stitches on your wrist area and Oprah is there and it's dark outside and you see a guy from your French class last semester and somehow find a scrapbook of his past and learn that he was once a midget but know that that isn't true because he is normal sized now and you can't just change from midget-dom to average height... dom (true story, happened last night).
but alas, Sean is still blogging about that one time he got hit in the face with an icicle whilst trying to fix our tv satellite. he's fine.

love, Ellen.

just another new year blog.

This was the craziest year, let's be honest. It flew by and i'm all the better for it.
I think i'll go by month.

New Years last year i spent watching crappy music videos with old friends. Then, in January, I met the Donner boys (Brady and Sean) at a party I held for myself for my half birthday. We also hung out at a game of broom ball that same month (at which I met Jeremiah, their younger brother) and, because I liked them so much, i invited our entire ward to an after-party at Village Inn. Later that month, Sean and I started hanging out. Also, my second year of college started.

On February 7th, Sean sent out the ghost of Paul Revere to tell the world we were dating. The next week was Valentines. The best Valentines I've ever had because I spent it with Sean. That month, we continued dating. I gained a best friend and trusted accomplice.

March is a funny story. the beginning wasn't that much of interest... but Sean's birthday was on the 20th and we celebrated. The week after that, though, we went to Phoenix. It really was a terrible trip, his family will attest to it, but it's a great story now. Here's a rundown of it . So that i don't have to type it all out.

April. Sean and I exchanged mixes, went to the zoo and to our favorite place, the Dinosaur Museum. And Sean and I continued to fall in love (combined awwwww. and... go.)

May. We visited a meat parade, took a fun day-trip to Moab, and Abby had a birthday (shout hooray)

June. We saw Jay Mohr at Wiseguys and busted a gut, bought a record player, and I got some gnarly bruises from a children's playground toy, and went to a super rad Motion City Soundtrack concert with Brady and The Front Bottoms and The Henry Clay People opened for them.

July. the best month. We saw Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and saw some fireworks. On my birthday we saw Foster the People in concert. Sean bought a car (for realz). The next day, we drove it to the Dinosaur museum. We went in and Sean proposed to me in the starry tunnel after the kids stopped running around in it. Adorable. That day, we drove up to bountiful and to logan and all around to show off our new engagement. SO great. We set the date for October 5th. Also that month, i packed up to move, and picked out my dress.

In August, I moved out of my old apartment and into our cozy new apartment, picked out our invites, and school restarted. I was waving my ring finger about like it was nobody's business. Also, we had out engagement pictures done. And Sean started his new job at Adobe.

September. I had some bridal showers and got some awesome stuff. Sean and I took our first of 2 trips to Minnesota for his friends Marcus and Whitney's wedding. 2 entire days were spent just driving. It was fun and cute! We got our marriage licence while there, also. When we got home from our journey, we got a kitten. so cute and fun back then... less fight-y.

October was the biggest month. We drove so much back to Minnesota and got ready for the wedding. Our families met and we set up. We got married in the St. Paul, MN temple on the 5th, had our reception in the Mankato ward building and then we had our honey moon in Mankato and Keystone, South Dakota where we visited Mt. Rushmore and had fun. When we got back, we had a couple days to catch up on things and then we had another reception in Bountiful which was gorgeous and fun. It was a month to remember. Also, Halloween where we carved pumpkins and had candy and it was great.

November. I went to school, Sean went to work. Thanksgiving was tons of fun and delicious. it was really a relaxing month, just what we needed after october.

December flew by. We saw The Hobbit 3 times (our 4th was last night... so it doesn't count for December). I finished the semester of School and hung out at home for most of the break. We had some Christmas parties and stuff and i wrote an adorable blog about our wedding. For New Years, we went to Heber City and just enjoyed each others company instead of going to a party. boring.

I'm excited for 2013. It's gonna be fun. Sean's and my first entire year of being married. Yay! This year, we're hoping to move up to Davis County, start saving for a real house, and maybe visiting Phoenix again or somewhere. I'm excited.

Thanks for another year of listening to me ramble or whatnot.
love, ellen

Things that will forever have happened.

Today, my brother-in-law is getting married (Congratulations, Brady and Katie!). This made me think about my wedding day, almost 3 months ago and, if i don't write this down now i'll probably forget and I can't wait till October 5th, 2013 to come back and re-read these things and remember how hilarious my wedding day was, in reality. All of these things are not in the beautiful memoirs of wedding. It's not in pictures and I'm sure plenty of people don't even know half of these things, but i think the back-stories of my wedding are just as great as the real thing. So, of course, here comes another bulleted list.

On our wedding day:

• I watched part of Arachnaphobia with my family while we were getting ready and waiting for Sean to. 
• He texted me "I'll be there in 3 minutes" after half an hour of playing Super Smash Brothers with stupid Bloom when he should have just been getting ready. After he sent that text is when he actually started getting ready 
• I wore Abby's dress to the temple because I didn't bring a dress except my actual pretty wedding dress because I thought that's how it went.
• Punk Rock Freddie's death was on the front page of the newspaper that day. 
• I stole white pins from the temple.
• It was so cold and i wore Sean's "SAUCE" jacket while not being photographed and I said once "Where is my warm thing-i-mean-husband?" 
• The thing I most remember the guy who married us saying is "You probably won't remember anything I say."
• I wore a shirt Sean gave me that he once sold that says "I <3 Sean Donner" what was much too big for me to get my hair done. 
• I could hardly sleep.
• His parents bought us Burger King for lunch after going to the temple and we ate it in the car on the way to the reception location. It was chicken fingers, fries, and coke and Sean accidentally got Diet Coke and was upset so i drank it for him.
• We were setting up for the reception all the way up until guests started coming in and we had them help us. 
• After the reception was over and people were cleaning up, Sean's Aunt Melanie helped hide me with a round table so i could take off my tights.
• During the father/daughter dance, my dad asked me something about moving to Minnesota, i think and I accidentally swore and then blamed it on Bloom. 
• Bloom gave us a crappy baby shower gift card. idiot. 
• We ate barbecue and I was prepared and brought an apron and Sean said something like "She knows where her place is" jokingly to my family. even though he does WAY more cooking than I do.
• We got copies 2 and 3 of Caddyshack. 
• My mom was the only one (besides me) not to wear her wedding clothes to the temple. Abby wouldn't have either but i was wearing her clothes so i could carry my dress into the temple and wear it out. or something.
• I cried a lot after being sealed.
• We made velociraptor cake toppers but our cake was just a slab cake so we put them on our table.
• Escape (Enrique Iglesias), A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton), Do The Moo Shoo and His Cheeseburger (Veggie Tales), Party Rock Anthem (LMFAO), Party in the Bloom.S.A (Miley Cyrus), Smile (Vitamin C), and Kids in America (No Secrets) were all on the playlist. and this WASN'T. How that happened, i have no idea. It's like our theme song...
• During A Thousand Miles, Sean and I were at our table eating and when it got to the piano bits, we'd pretend to play it. adorable.
• We took pictures with our faces going crazy and i did some weird flying moves and Sean took pictures of me and I took pictures of him. because we're creative and awesome. 

So next time you or someone else gets stressed out about having a perfect wedding, force them to remember that whenever anything goes wrong or right or not in the way you were planning, it doesn't matter because eventually it'll be funny and adorable. Or just plain nuts-o.

love, ellen

It's Christmas Eve, Not Christmas Steve! volume 2

Merry Christmas Eve, all!

This is the first Christmas that Sean and I have ever spent and I think it's going to be number 1. I can't wait to see his face when he opens all his fun gifts and for him to see mine when visa versa and whatnot.

I'm so grateful he's here to enjoy this holiday with. So far, he's made me a christmas (eve) ham which was super delicious, and we drank sparkling blueberry grape juice, also delicious, and we've given each other pajamas and 1 gift each. I got him an awesome rifle lighter and he gave me a super cool microfiber hairbrush that dries your hair when you brush it! Awesome.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to be reading some blog on Christmas Eve. Go enjoy your family and stuff! okay,

MERRY CHRISTMAS TOMORROW!

love, Ellen

1 week and 1 day

Til I get to spend Christmas with my fantastic husband. Today, there's a lot to say and i think it best to be in a bulleted list, like i like.

• Remember last year's Christmas Eve post that had my most favorite christmas songs on it? that was a good one. you should check it out if you haven't.
• Yesterday, in church, Sean and I gave our 'new to the ward' talks. We actually had some fun writing them and telling each other the funny bits we were planning on saying. When we actually gave them, people seemed to enjoy them and we got lots of compliments after. 
• Okay, so last monday (a week ago today) i got my first smartphone. It's an HTC Radar. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly careful i am with it. I leave it in my bag when i'm sitting down and it's rarely in my pockets in case it falls out. So on sunday, right before i'm about to go into the church for sacrament meeting, guess what. Sean's ipad was covering it when both were sitting in my lap and, as i stepped out of the car, i bet you can only imagine what happens next. yep, the brand new phone slips and tumbles straight onto the pavement and the screen shatters. my luck... but it's all going to be fine. the phone was free, it's only a malformation in the screen. All the apps and buttons (is that what they're called when they don't protrude from the surface?) and whatnot work. so it'll be fine. but what a frustrating thing. 
• On Saturday morning, Sean and I woke up bright and early to take miss kitty to get fixed. When we picked her up that afternoon, she was so silly! she had a piece of duct tape on her head for the vets to put her in her in the right carrying cage thing and she just looked high as a kite. She also got her vaccines. We have been giving her meds every day at 7 am and 7 pm and, even though they're super gross and she hates them, she takes them well. She's been sleeping a lot more and letting me cuddle with her! Right? she loves having her head scratched and laying down right next to me. cute.

• we've seen The Hobbit twice so far. for realz. We saw it in normal  and then in  Lots-o'-frames 3D which was weird. I don't know if i liked it or not. but anyways, it's really great and I'd recommend it. Also, recently, i've been re-watching the Lord of the Rings Extended trilogy. Awesome. 
• Only a hair more than a week till CHRISTMAS! I can't wait to give Sean all of the things I got him. And I can't wait to see what he got me! I think married christmas is going to be so much fun and I can't wait for Prime Rib with my family that night! and to give them what we got them! oh, christmas. so fun. 

i think that's all. 

but i also think i need to share this adorable picture of my sweet husband sleeping:

love, Ellen

simple observations.

i have to start out with a rendition of a song:


oh, the weather outside is frightful,
and all i ever wanna do is cuddle.
And cuz Sean's at work all day,
I will wait, i will wait, i will wait.

okay. back to business:

• i'm okay going 20 miles under the speed limit today because of my poor tires and it's slippery all around.
• i love almond hot chocolate. almond anything, really.
• You HAVE to let the dryer finish when you don't have a laundry thing at your house and have to transport it because if you don't and put it in the bottom of the hamper, it WILL wrinkle and you will have a bad time.
• my house is a mess and for the first time in months, kitty is being super sweet and cuddly. She's even letting me pet her without attacking my hands. jerk.
• Today is the perfect day to start re-watching Lord of the Rings in preparation for Friday. Also because of the weather. Good thing the 1st part of Fellowship is still in the bluray player from that time Sean and I fell asleep to it on saturday.
• i want to be an artist. 
• 2 finals down, 2 to go. and then BREAK. awww yeah.
• the creepy heaters in our apartment are actually awesome. 
• I need to go buy some of Sean's stocking gifts today. or tomorrow. probably tomorrow.

okay, that's all for today. now i'm going to take a nap and clean my house. 

love, ellen.

getting the spirit on.

and do some serious studying.
next week is Finals week. I have 2 monday morning at 7 and 9 and 2 on wednesday at 11 and 1 and then WINTER BREAK! 3 weeks of getting things done that have been put off by school and work.

As of late, Sean and I have been getting our Christmas spirit on by attending (his) work parties and wrapping presents up and getting each other stuff. I can't wait to see his face with what I got him! I still have a reasonable amount in the budget to get him some more things, but i have a few days.

I'm GETTING A SMARTPHONE. guys, i'm moving up in the world. I keep feeling more and more grown up. I'm married and I'm 1 semester from getting my associates degree and i'm becoming more technologically savvy. it's great.

okay, i'm gonna go do the dishes and eat and study.
love, ellen.