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!

Christmas Wrap Up

We were surrounded by family the entire weekend.

We were able to see some of my extended family Christmas Eve which was very nice, and then we were able to spend the rest of the time with Tylers family. We were also able to SKYPE my family on Christmas. That was a lot of fun!

My favorite part of Christmas was when it was just Tyler and I at our apartment cooking our first little Christmas dinner together. I am so grateful for all of the gifts I have received this past year, the best one being that I was able to marry my best friend in the Temple.

1st Christmas

Crazy to think this is our 1st official Christmas together!

I had so much fun shopping for Tyler, and we had fun starting new traditions throughout the month. We have already thought of a few things to remember for next year!

You HAVE to have new Christmas Eve PJs!

Our favorite gifts.

Trip to Colorado

My BFF moved to Colorado and I finally got to visit her! It was so much fun to catch up with her and see her new city!

Highlights Included:

Seeing Breaking Dawn

Ate a lot of great food

Took at ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel

Volunteering at her Christmas Kids Work party

Thanks for such a fun weekend!!

See you soon.

Christmas Eve

What we Made:

Dutch Pancakes

Dill Dip & Veggie Tray

Muddy Buddies {hadn't eaten these since 3rd grade}

Cookie Dough Dip

Where we Went:

Temple Square to see The Testaments

Deseret Book {bought the CUTEST Nativity}

Syracuse for lunch with family

Tylers Parents for Christmas Eve Night

Home for Christmas Eve Pajamas and reading the real Christmas Story

It was a good day.

Christmas Eve 2011.

Gingerbread Sleigh and Temple Square

Just some more traditions...

Lights @ Temple Square

&

Decorating our gingerbread sleigh! {Growing up we decorated a sleigh every year-- I have missed this tradition since moving away from home!}

Tylers Side

My Side

The front!

Christmas Baking

We love to bake! We made some treats to share and it was a blast.

We made...

Mint Fudge (All Tyler)

Sugar Cookies w/ Peppermint Kisses x3

Hello Dollies

Pecan Sandies

and

Sugar Cookies (All Tyler)

We gave to our Home Teachees,Visiting Teachees, Friends at work, Family, and ourselves!

Traditions.

My family has a fun tradition of going bowling on Christmas Eve. It is one of my favorite traditions. Read about duck pin bowling in 2008... I have only missed 2 years of this tradition! I knew we would be too busy on Christmas Eve to go, so Tyler and I went on Saturday. It was a night of firsts-- Tyler and I had never been bowling together! How weird is that?! Also-- I have never been bowling with just one other person! Those games go F-A-S-T!

I love this tradition and I am so glad that we are going to continue it with our family!

Festival Of Trees

I love traditions. I love being a part of traditions and I love starting new traditions. I do not think its ever too late to start a new tradition! It is our 1st Christmas together {last year we were engaged and I was NOT in the holiday spirit...just ask Tyler about the meltdown I had in the mall parking lot last year over socks} and I am LOVING carrying on and starting our very own traditions! We were able to go to the Festival of Trees and see all of the beautiful trees {and gingerbread houses} on display.

Love the colors!

The Up House!

Sisters.

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful sisters. It is tough to live so far away from them and feel like I am missing out on so much, but it has made me very grateful for the time I do get to share with them. I love talking to them on the phone, and texting them about what is going on in our lives. I am already looking forward to seeing them this summer!!

They both make me so proud.

I love you ladies!!

Thanksgiving

As usual, Thanksgiving was AMAZING! It is so nice to be surrounded by family and friends.

Hightlights Included

I was able to fly out a little before to spend time with family.

I got to see Emily in her cheer competition-- so fun to be there!

I got to see Cara perform up at school-- so talented!

Tyler surprised us all by flying out early-- I have never been so surprised in my life!

Bureau of Engraving with Tyler and of course Bens Chili Bowl!

A LOT of laughing, eating, and NERTZ!

Team TOG (The Old Guys) Winning.

I had some time to reflect on things while I was out there, and while I came up with a lot of different things the most important is that, when it really comes down to it we have so much to be thankful for.

Already looking forward to JMTP9

Happy Birthday Cara!!!

Cara is a freakin' rock star.

I love this girl soooooo much.

She is such an example to me. We have made some awesome memories togheter. I am so lucky to not only have a sister but a friend.

I cannot believe she is 21 today.

So happy I am here to celebrate with her!

Love you.

11/11/11

I believe that wishes do come true. As cheesy as that sounds, I really do believe that!
If I am looking at the clock at 11:11 I always make a wish.
I make my wishes count when I blow out candles too.
If I am lucky enough to see a shooting star... I make a wish on that too.

I am pretty sure making all those wishes is how I got Tyler.

Today is 11/11/11 which means at 11:11 you must make the best wish you can think of!!
Better make it count!

Date Night.

When Tyler got home from school last night he came home to a poem on the door.

"I know its a little late

For a Halloween themed date.

There will be pumpkins, popcorn, and coco to share

Come on in if you dare."

I'm sure my creative writing teacher would have been impressed with that.

We never carved our pumpkins-- we got crazy busy with other other activities! I am so glad we waited because after Halloween we were able to pick up a pumpkin carving kit {I ALWAYS wanted one}!

Tyler and the Pumpkin Guts

For some reason I remember pumpkin carving being extremely messy-- I think the last pumpkin I carved was when I was 10. It was not messy at all-- very civilized.

The final result!!

I think it turned out super cute!

I also made pumpkin hot chocolate-- delicious.

and

Popped homemade popcorn-- in a pot over the stove!! It was seriously so fun {I am easily impressed}. Tyler did a video of the popcorn-- I will try to find it!

It's Already November!

How on earth is it already November?? Most of the time I am counting the days to get to November, but this year it snuck up on me!! November is one of my very favorite months because it is Fall...the leaves are changing and falling...oh yeah and McNeil-Janes Palooza aka Thanksgiving! So excited.

Us last Thanksgiving!

I was just looking at my November posts from last year and they are all about wedding preperations-- hard to believe that was all happening a year ago! What an amazing year it has been!