12 Days of Christmas

I did a "12 Days of Christmas" for Tyler this year.  I looked online for a few ideas, but nothing really caught my eye. I am proud to say I came up with some fun and original ideas! It is a tradition I want to keep, so I am blogging it to keep track of my ideas for future years!

I made all of my tags with materials I already had around my house.

White Cardstock

Washi Tape

Stickers

On the back of each tag I wrote:

"On the _____ day of Christmas my true love gave to me ____."

The first 6 days included:

1. Avengers DVD

2- Romantic Dinner for 2 

3 Cookie dough bites

4 packs of gum

5- sweater with 5 buttons

6 "Rein-beers"- picture to come

I packaged everything with Christmas ribbon and wrapping paper and found a secure hiding spot! I surprised Tyler with a gift each morning! 

6 more days to come!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I love decorating for Christmas! I have been slowly building up my decoration collection since I have been married! 

1. Fun Christmas printable-- found here

2. My chalkboard countdown-- this is one of my favorite purchases of 2012.

3. Ornament collection

4. Felt Nativity- bought this at Deseret Book last Christmas

5. The whole set up!

6. Ornament wreath-- made this last year and I am in LOVE with it. 

*Not pictured is my silver tree (branches from the centerpieces at my wedding reception silver ornaments and my decorated Christmas tree!

Harry Potter Party

Tyler and I got invited to a Harry Potter Halloween party. Unfortnately Tyler got called in to work, but I still was able to make it! It was such a fun party-- comeplete with Butter Beer, pumpkin juice, and choclate frogs!

 

 

My wonderful mother  made me this Gryffendore scarf last year, and it came in handy again this year! I also recycled my graduation gown as part of my Hogwarts uniform! It was a very fun night out! Doesn't everyone look awesome?!

Shout Out

Shout Out to my baby sister who just started a blog!! She is too cute, and on top of that she is hilarious.

 

Miss Emily's Blog

 

Enjoy!!

Weekend Wrap-Up

What a weekend!

 

Friday night Tyler and I went to a production of the Drowsy Chaperone and enjoyed some Mongolian BBQ before the show!

"Musicals take you to another world and give you a tune to carry in your head when you're feeling blue."

 

Love that quote from the show. I feel especially lucky to have grown up in a family that values the cultural arts. because of this I have expereinced many productions ranging from community theater to shows on Broadway. I have found that each show and song has special memories involved that still get triggered when I hear a specific song or see a different production of the show.  I hope to carry on a love for the arts with our family.

 

 

Saturday morning I spent with the ladies {and the cute blondie up above} on my moms side of the family! We have started a tradition of getting together each October at Gardener Village. It is a tradition I look forward to each year! Hoping that next October Emily will be able to attend too {since she will be out here for school... right?!?!}. We missed everyone who couldn't be there!

 

Sunday I got to see my dad! He happened to be in town for an extremely short visit, but long enough to take me to dinner! It was great to see him and spend some time catching up! He was also our first visitor to our new apartment {pictures to come}!

 

It was a good weekend.

Fall Has Arrived

 

 

 

Fall is my absolute favorite season! I love the colors, the temperatures,

and of course the clothes! Fall is also the season that hosts my favorite

holiday {Thanksgiving} and it feels like a non-stop party

from October-February!

 

Tyler and I took a break on Wednesday evening and took a drive

to BIG Cottonwood Canyon to look at the leaves. They were

absolutely stunning and so vibrant.

 

We pulled over a few times for pictures. Do you dig my

denim shirt? Had one pretty similar to this back in 1996!

 

After our drive we got dessert at Kneaders-- we had some of their delicous pumpkin cake. One of my YW works there- so it was fun to see her working! Great way to spend an evening!

All Dressed Up

 

One of the best things about cruises (in my opinion) is getting all dressed up! We dressed up twice, once for a formal night, and once for our fancy 6 course dining experience!

 

 

Highlights Included:

 

Parmesan foam... root beer foam... astronaut ice-cream... decontructed BLT... 3 hour meal...

 

I am grateful that my parents taught us to enjoy different kinds of foods, and to also be open to trying new things. Without them I wouldn't know that Turkish food is my favorite  kind of cuisine, or how to handle a meal with more than 3 forks! Thanks for culturing me from a young age!

St. Maarten

The island of St. Maarten was beautiful!

 

Here are a few snapshots of what we saw while we were there...

 

 

1. The sanctuary where we began our hike.

2. Lots of beautiful tents everyhwere.

3. Dad pointing out something in nature. He knows everything!

4. So much green-- I think there are some coconuts in this picture.

5. They are building some overnight accomodations-- next visit we will stay here!

6. More trees.

7. This is a view from the start of the hike. We could see the entire island.

8. Three sisters on a hike!

9. Cute Emily!

10. The island!!!

11. More Emily.

12. The family-- Tyler is hiding in the back!

13. How beautifulis that water?!

14. More hiking-- we had to hike single file.

15. Even more island.

16. We went back downtown after the hike-- this is us on the dock!

 

 

Flowers & Notes

 

 

Last week at work was insanely busy-- 18 hour days kind of busy. Luckily I prepared really well- made lunches/dinners/snacks for the entire week, and married the best man in the world! Tyler sent flowers to my office "just because". It was a complete surprise and made my entire week.

 

My crazy week ended Saturday night, and by the time I headed home Tyler was already at work. I decided to treat myself to some dinner and I picked up a surprise dessert for Tyler when he got home from a busy night. As I was putting it in the fridge I wrote a little note for him and then headed to bed, where I found another note on my pillow from him! As I was falling asleep I was thinking about how we both had written notes... the beautiful flowers... and the amazing love and support I get contsantly from my husband.

 

That is when it hit me. THIS IS HOW A MARRIAGE WORKS-- two people working really hard and putting another person first. So grateful for Tyler and the amazing relationship we are working really hard at building together.

St. Thomas

 

Back to St. Thomas we go! We started out the morning shopping in St. Thomas and buying some dresses and jewlery. We grabbed a taxi and went downtown-- it was quite the adventure! Taxis on the islands are not the same as in the U.S.! We spent the afternoon snorkeling in the ocean-- we saw a lot of neat things! It was like National Geographic under there!

 

Cara looked mighty comfortable there on the island- maybe she will pracitce law there?!

 

Our tour guides were from the U.S.-- pretty sure they came on spring break and never bought a return ticket. The more I think about it, the idea seems to get better and better.

 

 

1. View from the balcony

2. Us on the balcony-- isn't St. Thomas pretty?

3. Iguanas-- so prehistoric, right Mom?!

4. Dad enjoying the boat ride!

5. & 6. Girls snorkeling

7. Us on the boat!

8. Family Picture

9. The three girls

Bahama Mama

In Nassau Bahamas the "kids" got to go on an excursion all on their own. This is the first time we have ever gone on an excursion without our parents, which meant I was in charge. Bahahahaha (evil laugh). I think I asked everyone if they had their passports/IDs/tickets 1,000+ times. 

 

We had "Beach Day" at Blue Lagoon Island.

 

 

Highlights:

 

1. It was so humid my lens fogged up! This is before we boarded the boat to take us to the island!
2. Blue Lagoon Island
3. The view from where I sat.
4. The trike-- we should have rented this baby, but sadly we did not! Next time.
5. We lounged in tubes ALL day.
6. Tyler enjoying the beach. He had to rescue us when we got stuck, we nicknamed him "Tug Boat Tyler".
7 & 8. The girls lounging about. Isn't the water so clear and beautiful?
9. Lunch was so good.
10 &11. Eating lunch!
12. Cara and I.
13. Taking a break from water and relaxing.
14. Cara and Emily at the port.
15. Ty and I at the port.
16. Of course they found a candy shop--"Sugar Happens".

Adventures at the Fair.

I am seriously behind in my blogging. I don't know if anyone even reads it-- but since I apparently stink at keeping a journal these days this is my one attempt at keeping track of life. I still have to blog about our fabulous cruise-- and our trip to the Shakespeare Festival! Here is a much more recent adventure-- Utah State Fair from over the weekend.

I love the fair. Remember I went with Mandie in 2009? 

Tyler told me he almost died last time he went to the fair so I sadly skipped the fair in 2010 and 2011. We tried it this year-- and Tyler lived!!!!! We avoided the animals and had the greatest night! 

My pics.

a. So many colorful rides!

b. Us on the Ferris Wheel! 

c. Tyler and his first ever funnel cake!!! 

The State Fair is one of the best people watching places EVER. (The airport is a close second.) Just a few things I observed.

1. A mom feeding her 4 month old baby cotton candy. Maybe this is just me and I don't have any kids but I think that was a bad idea. That child has cavities before she even has teeth. 

2. People will do anything for a giant stuffed thing. Don't get me wrong,  I enjoy a stuffed Rastafari Banana as much as the next person but not for $20 and trying to throw a ping pong ball in a fish bowl.

3. Butter sculpting is an art.

I also walked away with many questions. My main question I kept asking is "where do the carnival people work?" Do they travel from fair to fair? So many questions. 

I still love the fair. I still do not love funnel cake after I have eaten it. Still looking forward to Utah State Fair 2013!

Zions Trip x2

The weekend before the Cruise we went to Zions to see my adorable family. (We got to see my family 3 weekends in a row-- it was wonderful!) Here are 6 pictures that help wrap up our weekend.

a. We had fun with giant jenga!

b. Building giant jenga up after the fall.

c. The girls and Mater outside the grocery store in Kanab!

d. Ty and myself and Mater. Mom and little Z! 

f. Em and baby J! We had so much fun meeting baby J.

Fast forward 5 weeks and we are back in Zions again!

But this time with my BFF Elaine! Elaine was amazing enough to drive 9 hours to see me! That is friendship people. We ate a lot, talked a lot, laughed a lot, read a lot and even squeezed in two hikes! 

a. The pose in Zions.

b. The 3 of us.

c. Cable Mountain hike!

d. We didn't bring giant marshmallows so we had to improvise. 

Guuurrrll. Thanks for making the trek to see us! Love you!

As you can see Zion treated us well this summer! Already looking forward to getting back there again!

Ft. Lauderdale

Start of our A-M-A-Z-I-N-G Vacation

After a red-eye flight to Ft. Lauderdale we made it to our lovely beach resort hotel! We ate lunch by the pool and then hung out on the beach until my family arrived! We walked down the beach and ate dinner at a tasty Mexican restaurant, and then walked and got some gelato for dessert. The next morning we packed up and headed to the cruise ship! 

4th of July

4th of July Celebrations

a. My firework picture-- it looks fake but its real. I promise!

b. I made some patriotic pancakes with homemade whipped cream (that looks strangely like ice-cream in the picture)!

c. Waiting for fireworks! We sat in the parking lot of Alta View hospital and we were able to see probably 15 different fireworks shows! It was awesome.

*Not pictured- we went to my in-laws for a little bbq! Thanks so much for having us!

Cabin Time

We took a quick trip down to the Cabin to see Schpoopy and Cara! It was too short of a trip, but it was a lot of fun! So happy to have family I love to spend time with, and so happy they come out to UT during the summer! I feel like summer doesn't really start until my family arrives!

a & b. Dinner at Switchbacks. It was the first time I had eaten there-- it was tasty!

c. Early morning hike. How gorgeous is that view?

d. So lucky to have these opportunities to visit such an amazing place.

*No-- we did not all plan on wearing green. It just happened. For reals.

Ray Reunion 2012

A Ray Reunion always incudes a water fight. Some of my fondest memories are from the water fight 16 years ago!

Don't mess with G'pa. He has been known to take the screen out of 2nd story windows to throw buckets of water.

We brought our own squirt guns!

This was one of my favorite conversations between Tyler and my little cousins:

Cousins: "Get Tyler!!!!!!!!!"

Tyler: "Why??"

Cousins: "Because its Tyler!!!!!!!"

There was more than a water fight, but that is all I photographed!! It was a great weekend. Thanks G'pa and G'ma for hosting!!

JUNE Catch Up

Since it is past the middle of July I decided I better post some of our summer happenings!

My sister came for a visit and we had a blast.

a. Waiting for our Snow Cones. Is it just me, or does UT have more snow cone shacks than any other state? Not a complaint... just wondering.

b. We went to the trampoline gym. Oh my it was so fun. There are some videos I will have to post.

c. Visit up the canyon. Hot Dogs and S'mores not pictured.

d. Cara and her cupcake hedgehog, that my sis-in-law made for my other sis-in-laws babyshower. They were seriously adorable- she rocks.

*The husband was in attendance to all of these outings, but was also our photographer so he is not in any of the pictures!

Fast forward to June 18th for Husbands Birthday!!

a. Love this man.

b. Homemade funfetti birthday cake. Seriously-- one of the best cakes I have made. From scratch cakes are daunting sometimes, but {almost} always worth it.

c. Birthday Gifts.

Sisters & Happy Mothers Day Shout Out

I love these girls more than anything in the world! They are so much fun to be around with, and we have a good time no matter what we are doing! It was such a blast being at home for a few days with these two {plus mom & dad}. Already looking forward to our Summer adventures!

Also-- a  {late} Mothers Day Shout Out!

Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing women in my life. I have been blessed with a wonderful mother who I look up to so very much, who has taught me so many lessons and is such a great example to me. I also feel so grateful to be surrounded by so many wonderful women around me-- grandmas, aunts, friends, and a great mother-in-law. Happy Mothers Day to everyone.

Even though I am not a Mother yet {no, this is not an announcement} I catch a glimpse of the responsibility and love that mothers have for their children. This glimpse makes me even more in awe of the amazing women in my life.

Love you all.

P.S. I am not actually as short as this picture makes me out to be.

Graduation Day

I was able to visit Maryland/Pennsylvania for a quick trip last week! It was WONDERFUL. I went out to see Miss Cara graduate from college! I am so happy for her and so excited to see the amazing she things she is going to accomplish in the future. It brought back memories of my college graduation-- can't believe that was already 3 years ago!

a. The 3 girrs (as my dad says)

b. Cara and Dad

C. Cara-- doesn't she look so happy?!

d. Cara and Mom

Just Another Day

A look into our Wednesday.

A. I got my hair cut and highlighted-- let me know if you need an AMAZING hair stylist, because I have one!
B. Tyler is growing a "finals beard". Not sure who is more excited for finals to be over! Haha... I actually do not mind the beard.
C. Tyler has been bringing me Subway for lunch on Wednesdays. It is fun to see him in the middle of the day and have a quick lunch with him!

Things I Want To Remember

I found a list of these texts/bits from coversations from a few years ago when my friend Kady came to visit me. Sharlene-- you are in some of these too! I didn't want to forget them- so hear they are on the internet so they will never be lost!

"This is awkward"

"Why did he have to come?"

"I think he's trying to touch you"

"Why am I always ahead of you guys?"

"I think he likes you"

"I'm trying to look at his teeth"

"I like his accent."

"He's trying to hold your hand."

"I'm engaged- but she's not."

"What kind of deoderent do you use?"

"Want to split an ice-cream sandwich?" "Can you roll it in brownie crumbs?"
 "Are you dillusional?"
"Sorry, I'm getting all hot and bothered."

"It is time Simba."

Even though these were from over 2 years ago, I know exactly what was behind each one of them. Good times. Good friends.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I live for the weekends. Weekends are when I get everything taken care of for the upcoming week. Unfortunately I work a lot of weekends, so sometimes I have to cram two weekends into one weekend!

I made my OWN laundry detergent. Wish I could take full credit for this endeavor, but once again I must thank Pinterest. I felt like a pioneer grating my bars of soap by HAND{minus the fact I did it while watching The Office}. I am excited to use my new soap-- it smells so CLEAN.  

Tyler and I went out for a milkshake on Friday night after I dragged him into a million stores at the mall. Why am I so obsessed with wanting NEEDING white skinny jeans right now? Oh! and I introduced Tyler to the store LUSH. Finally Utah has not only ONE but TWO locations. I have loved their products since since my parents brought me stuff back from Canada, when I was in 5th grade.

It was a fantastic evening for people watching/listening to their conversations. We saw some Mall Kiosk people freak out on each other and then the Mall Cops had to get involved. I saw a baby with a bow BIGGER than her head, and listened to a guy hit on a girl as they were both "one upping" each other. It was quite the conversation.

Other highlights of the weekend included:

Gym Time

P90x-- we are already on week 5

Re-Watching episodes of The Office

Thai Chicken Enchiladas-- a lot of work but very tasty

Making "healthy" choco chip cookies {NO white sugar, and only egg white.. in my opinion that = healthy}

Quizzing Tyler for Medical Terminology {you should hear my pronunciations and then my suggestions for ways to remember the words}

It was a great weekend-- already looking forward to my next weekend off!

My Schpoops.

Even though I love far away from my parents {who I miss dearly} I still get to see my Dad pretty often.
He surprised us during lunch at City Creek just last week! Of course later in the week we had to eat at Copper Onion for our traditional dinner! Thanks Schpoops.

Easter Fun!

I love ALL holidays. As previously mentioned, I LOVE traditions and I am LOVING making our own traditions with Tyler. See below for a peak at our Easter weekend.

1. Our carrots! I sent this pic to my sister and she wanted to know what was wrong with our carrots-- well they are chocolate covered strawberries! They were so easy to make and delicious to eat! Thank you Pinterest.

2.We continued our dying eggs this year, but instead of vinegar we used kool-aid. We also got creative with rubber bands. I'm never using vinegar again-- the kool aid was perfect and smelled delicious! Once again, thank you Pinterest.

3. I made this wreath out of plastic eggs-- so easy and turned out so bright and perfect for Spring! I actually came up with this idea on my own-- and then as soon as I bought the materials saw it all over Pinterest. So thank you to my own creative brain & Pinterest for backing my idea up & thank you to Tyler for believing in my idea to hang it up and helping me execute it!

4. Easter Bunny treats! I set up a scavenger hunt for Tyler so he could find his basket. It was so fun to put together, and I had a blast watching him find each egg! We kept the baskets small this year-- because I have ZERO sense of portion control when it comes to cadbury eggs {or really any candy}.

We were able to attend the Temple on Saturday, share a delicous slurpee, enjoy a lovely surprise visit from our dearest Kady, attended a wonderful church service, and had a delicious dinner at my in-laws. It was seriously a perfect weekend.

Conference Breakfast

I love being in YW, it is amazing what it has done for my testimony and knowledge of the gospel. However, it is crazy how much time and effort goes into every single activity. Sundays, Mid-Week activites, random weekend events, firesides, youth conference and girls camp!

My respect for my young womens leaderes has gone up leaps and bounds this past year!

The presidency decided to have a "Conference Breakfast" during the first Saturday session. It was held at my house-- I really wanted to do the table up all cute and fun but then decided that its okay that I don't have a centerpiece. It matters that the girls came, knew they were loved, and were able to watch at least one session of conference. It was a great success.

Thanks so much to my sweet husband for beign the pancake man!

The Best.

Tyler and I had a date to clean the kitchen and the living room {I know-- we are exciting people} to get ready for my Young Women to come over for a "Conference Breakfast" Saturday morning. I walked through the front door to find everything clean-- including the kitchen floor mopped and the floors vacummed + dinner in the crockpot+ a surprise date! It was a beautiful sight.

It was so sweet of Tyler to do all of this, because I know he is just as tired by the end of the week as me. Dinner was delicious and we went and saw Hunger Games {which was AMAZING}. So grateful for a sweet and caring husband who looks for ways to help me.

St. Patricks Day

I know... I know... St. Patricks Day was forever ago, but I want to be able to look back next year and see pictures from what we did!

My adorable friend Tessa is pregnant, so I went to her baby shower. It was so fun. Her baby is going to be extremely well dressed! Isn't she the cutest pregnant lady ever?! I am so excited for her and her husband!

Later that night Tyler and I made rainbow sherbet drinks (St. Patricks Day... rainbows... etc... get it??). I had a picture-- but apparently I am struggling because I just deleted it off my blog!

Vacation

I have been a terrible blogger lately-- good news I have become a better journal keeper again!

Tyler and I were able to have a nice little vacation down in Zions during his Spring Break. It was beautiful and a great break from everything else! We enjoyed our amazing surroundings and loved spending time together without distractions! We also LOVED the new fire pit my parents had put in at the cabin!! It is wonderful.

The view from one of our hikes to Eagle Crags (?)Before the hike

These plants are so mean-- they scratch and hurt and get in your shoes.

Still Crazy.

I love being married. Not going to lie though- it has been weird to get to used to being married.

Tyler and I didn't live together before we got married, so living with someone is an adjustment- but luckily for us that was an easy adjustment! Sharing a closet is definitely an adjustment. Sharing joy, pain, and everything in between is a very good adjustment.

Getting used to my new last name has taken some real adjustment, especially when people call me by my last name. It takes a second or two to register they are talking to me! I guess it makes sense-- I had my old last name for 23 years!!!

This was a card from my b.f.f.--yep. still crazy!

It's all good though.

It's all good.

Date Night

Tyler and I had a fun double date with some friends last weekend. We ate at one of our favorite Thai restaurants and then went to the arcade! I had never been to an actual arcade before-- I mean yes, I have been to Chuck-E-Cheese but does that count? Tyler was racking up the tickets-- he probably could have got me a lucky rabbits foot or something. I guess we will never know, because we gave the tickets to a little girl. She was so excited- it was adorable.

Ignore the fact that my eye is closed-- I am trying to document more with pictures!

Valentines Weekend

I knew that I had an event until 7pm and YW after that on the official Valentines Day, so Tyler and I started celebrating the weekend prior! We made chicken parmesan and Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino. It was delicious. Tyler also surprised me with tickets to see The Vow- such a fun date!

Tyler surprised me with these delicious chocolate covered strawberries!

I made 4 dozen delicious pink sugar cookies for YW and for the two of us.

My sweet gift from Tyler that I received upon coming home late Tuesday night!

{Not pictured is the Penzeys Baking Spices kit for Tyler because he makes my life so "sweet".}

Birthday Weekend.

I LOVE Birthday Weekend!

We made crepes for breakfast on Sunday.

Tyler does the crepes and I do the toppings-- I LOVE homemade whipped cream.

On Saturday we had a Birthday lunch at Rodizio Grill. It was delicious.

Sunday evening we had a little party at my in-laws, where we enjoyed the delicious checkerboard cake! Tyler is an excellent gift giver-- he listens to what I talk about! He is a good man.

Thank you mom & dad for the kitchen aide chopper/grater/shredder. It is everything I wanted and MORE!

Cake.

I wanted to make my own cake this year-- I have been wanting to make a checkerboard cake for awhile now, and this was the perfect celebration to give it a whirl!

I used this recipe for the cake and then made some chocolate cream cheese frosting.

and ta daaa!

Happy Birthday to Me!

The cake was delicious, and the possibilites are endless.

Miss Emily

Miss Emily is 17 years old today!! She is the baby of our family, I can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that she is 17 today! I remember the day she was born, and I went to visit her in the hospital. She made us a family of 3 girls + my mom {my dad is so lucky}.

Emily is amazing. If I was 17, I would want to be her.

@ her cheer comp.
the day before her cheer comp + she really is a princess

Not only is she gorgeous, she is smart too...

Has a sparkling personality...

Has a strong testimony...

and is such a great example to me.

I love you Em.

Eat a piece of cake for me.

Paper Gift

The traditional 1st Anniversary Gift is paper.

We decided to only exchange cards this year, and I am so glad that is what we decided to do.

It was perfect.

1 Year Anniversary

It is hard to believe that Tyler and I have been married for 1 year. It has been the quite the year- we have had lots of ups and a few downs. We have laughed a lot and cried a few tears as well. We have learned a lot, and have loved every moment of it. I am so grateful that I married my best friend and the love of my life.

Our relationship may not be perfect, but it is real and it is ours.

We had a wonderful weekend getaway... reminiscing about our wonderful wedding day {thanks mom & dad}, talking about our favorite memories of this past year, and things we want to work on for this next year.

Happy New Year

Can't believe it is already 2012!

We had a fun New Years Eve with some friends... I was able to make it to 12:00 this year. For some reason New Years Eve is hard for me to stay awake for... even in high school! {Sometimes I am like an 85 year old.}

2012 has already brought some changes for each of us.

I am the new 2nd counselor in the Young Womens

Tyler started his new semester

Bring it on 2012!