New Years Eve Dinner

 

 

Let's pretend it is December 31st (at least the weather still feels like it)! Tyler and I spent New Years Eve in Marlyand. We spent the last day of the year at Zatinyas, my favorite restaurant in Washington DC. I could eat their grape-leaves dolmades every day of my life. It was a perfect way to wrap up 2-0-1-2!

 

 

 I love all of the color in these pictures!

 

Sorry this is so small! My blogger is being weird! 

Museum of American History

I can't believe it is already 2013! Clearly a lot has already happened this year, including the 2013 Inauguration! I know that these pictures are from 2009 Inaugural Ball, but I love them so much I had to post them! I took these during my trip home. We took a trip to the Museum of American History (my favorite) specifically for the new "Food" exhibit, but also spent a lot of time with the First Ladies!

I watched this Presidential Inauguration at the gym and felt that it was inspiring. I am optimistic about the next four years! 

P.S. I am in love with Michelles bangs, and both Malia and Sasha's coats.

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.