First Christmas married

I love December....Josh and I enjoyed a lot of parties with our friends and many family gatherings.

One of the traditions in Josh's family is to get everyone together and play bingo.

 Meet Oliva (Josh's niece) She has the most bubbly personality and is a hoot to be around

Santa comes to this party to give all the children gifts. I was shocked when Santa called me up to sit on his lap. Josh had guilty written all over his face. I guess it was my initiation into the family.

I look thrilled

Santa read a list of all the naughty/good things I have done. Here were some of the naughty things I guess I do:

• Change too many times in the morning
• Don't eat the ends of my food
• Left my room messy that day

Josh and I laughed after because he was kneeling up front with his camera filming me on Santa's lap. Growing up its usually your parents that are up front catching memorable moments and writing a list of what you want Santa to bring you. This year it was my husband and it was a neat moment for me. It was one of the moments that you sit back and think how neat it is that he is now my family. He went out and bought my gift and wrapped it for Santa. Tender!

We got to go to The Nutcracker this year with our friends Jake and Tasia. I have not seen it since I was really little. I was in the Nutcracker for a couple of years growing up and Tasia got to play the role of Clara. We got our husbands to agree to take us. Jake said he would rather gone to a demolition derby. ha

Dinner at one of my favorite places. Settebellos!

Before I get to Christmas eve and Christmas, Let me quickly take you back to when I was shopping for Josh's Christmas presents. If Josh wants something he goes out and buys it. That's fine with me until times like this when I can never figure out what to get him. One day he mentioned that he wanted some new golf wedges. I jumped to it as quickly as I could so he would not go out and get them. I took a shot in the dark and bought one I thought he would like off ebay. Who knew winning the bid could be so exhilarating. I knew I had got a great deal. I was a month ahead of the game and feeling like I was the best wife ever. A couple weeks later Josh pulled out his laptop and showed me the wedges he has been dying to get.....awkward pause by me when I realized they were not the ones I got him. 

First thing I did was sell them on ebay for more money. (bonus) I spent an hour of Thanksgiving bidding on the ones he really wanted. Whenever he asked where I disappeared to I just had to act like I was doing things for my mom. Anyways I won that bid and was flying high. I was so excited thinking that he was going to get exactly what he wanted for Christmas. 

A week after that Josh and I went to Vegas for fun and he walked into a golf store. Little did I know that in that moment my whole demeanor was about to change. Josh spotted the RTX 2012 wedges and  decided he wanted those ones instead. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I wanted to throw in the towel and tell him he was the most indecisive human on earth. I swallowed my tongue and held my head down low. To end this sad, long, dramatic story he ended up talking with friends and doing research on all the different wedges he liked. I overheard him saying he wanted the ones that I got him instead. PHEW. I was able to keep it a surprise and lucked out that he changed his mind. Word of advice is NEVER buy anyone a present a month in advance. Too stressful.

CHRISTMAS EVE

We spent with Josh's family and ate dinner. I made chicken roll ups with his mom which were delightful. I feel so lucky to have married into such a fun, loving family. For the Nativity Josh and volunteered ourselves to play the wise men. 

CHRISTMAS DAY

Josh and I woke up at 6 am and went to my parents house. We were able to skype with Isabelle that morning! It was one of the best parts to my Christmas. She looked stunning and full of light. It was so neat to see her and talk to her face to face. Olivia and I started singing Christmas songs to her and then the whole family chimed in. We started laughing until I looked on the screen and saw tears streaming down Isabelle's face. Once we realized how sad she was that she couldn't be with us we all began to sob. Talk about depressing. My eyes fill up just thinking about it. She is such an amazing example to us and I am so proud of her service. She only has 9 months left!

Later we watched my siblings open their presents and experience Christmas with them. We got ready and went to my grandparents house with my dads side for german pancackes and opening presents. 

It didn't stop there...after we enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours we ran to Josh's parents house for brunch. 

It was so fun to see all of his little nieces and nephews open their presents from Grandpa and Grandma. Christmas is so special when you see how excited kids get. It brings all of the magic back to life. We ate ourselves sick and took alot of naps. 

At 7pm that night we met back up with my family to go see Les Miserable in theatre. If you haven't seen that show GO! The end is my favorite part and the most touching. While we were in the theatre you could hear everyone sniffling. Tears were about to come down my face until I heard the chinese chick two rows behind us start convulsing and whimpering louder than anything I've ever heard. It took everything I had to not start laughing. She did not hold back and let it all out. I felt like someone had died. That poor girl was on a date and I am afraid after her dramatic episode it will be her last. 

Finally it was time for Josh and I to exchange presents we had bought one another. He LOVED his clubs and wouldn't put them down. Josh went above and beyond for me, as always. I love how he pays attention to things I say I want. It was such a fun Christmas! One of our favorite parts of Christmas was knowing that in just 2 weeks we would be moving into our new Townhouse! Merry Christmas to us.

December wore us out.

NYC girls trip

I was lucky enough to go to NYC with some of my closest friends from Cougarettes. We promised ourselves in college that we would do a girls trip once a year for the rest of our lives. Well it took us 3 years since graduating to actually get one locked down. I don't care how long at took because the fact that it happened was a miracle. Michael Ann lives in NYC with her husband and we have always wanted to go out and visit her. We scheduled our trip in November and then....hello Hurricane Sandy decided to drop in. Sadly we had to cancel our trip and just crossed our fingers we would find another time everyone could go.

December came and we rescheduled our trip. I was so excited to go during the Holiday season! NYC is  so festive during Christmas.

We flew in on a red eye that night and had to crash at Mikes apartment so we could function the rest of the day.

I am so glad Mike has not changed since college

We loved going to see the Rockettes in "The Christmas Spectacular"

We took trains, subways, ate at every amazing restaurant, and shopped! I don't know how much better a girls trip could actually get. It's so crazy to see how different the city life is for Mike compared to our little lives year ago in Provo, Utah. It was so nice to have Mike leading the way. She plays the local part really well. She kept us in line and would remind us that we couldn't say certain things in particular  areas or act like complete idiots. I can't imagine what we would have done without her....Jamyn's husband told Jamyn that as long as I wasn't leading the way he wouldn't be concerned about her this trip. Um thank you? ha

Yeah we like to buy matching sweaters...(do we look like tourists?)

THANK YOU

• To all of our husbands for letting us go, watching kids, driving us to the airport and Chris for letting us crash in your apartment and stealing your wife all weekend. 

Festivities

To start off...I love the Holidays (side note). There is so much to do and see; the only downfall this year is there is no snow. It may seem like a weird request but as much as I hate the cold the Holidays aren't the same without a winter wonderland backdrop. I know I will take back how I feel after Christmas.

Josh and I were hoping that we would be in our townhouse before Christmas, but it is taking longer than we anticipated. The more I thought about it I realized that it would probably be too chaotic trying to move in during the Holidays anyways. The good news is our move in date is the first week in January! We are so excited.
One of my favorite things about the townhouses we bought were the light pastel colors. I love the craftsman style look. The color options are pastel green, gray, yellow and dark brown. We got to choose everything inside of the house but we had no say on the color they painted the outside. My last choice was the brown; my chances of getting it were slim.....then as luck would have it Josh texted me and gave me the bad news. Our townhouse got painted brown! ha ha We just laughed. It doesn't mean we are any less thrilled we have our own place.

The next item of discussion is one that may shock you. I finally decided to get my ears pierced. I waited 24 years of not caring to get them pierced and then BAM... I officially have two holes in my ears. The last couple of months I have kept noticing earrings that I love. The weekend Josh and I went to Vegas I told him I wanted my ears pierced. He told me he wouldn't come with me because he didn't want "anyone" aka my dad thinking he had any part in it. A couple weeks passed by and I still wanted them pierced so I dragged Josh with me to the mall. I'll be honest, the fact that the girl who pierced my ears was only 19 made me want to reconsider and turn around. She offered me a sucker and all was well!

Needless to say I am happy with  my choice and it didn't hurt as bad as I thought! Later that night we went mattress shopping.

That week we went to see the Festival of Trees with our friend Dubs and Sarai. They are sweet newlyweds. 

We went to the Chocolate afterwards for my favorite glass of milk and chocolate cake

Saturday night we went to Josh's first work Christmas party for his new job. He works with such fun people. Josh scored the best white elephant gift at the party. It was a Santa hat that plays a Christmas song and moves to the beat. I on the other hand got the creepiest looking doll. I can't keep in our bedroom because it would haunt me. 

Right after the party we jumped in the car and changed for our Ugly Sweater party. Saturday was a busy day!

I love how close we have all stayed since Cougarettes. It was fun to get everyone together. After games and food, the girls went upstairs to talk for an hour while the guys talked sports. We came back down an hour later and the guys weren't ready to go. Sorry Cherese and Jackson for staying over till 1 am. ha

Every Sunday after church Josh and I go look at our place.

Kaley gave me the best idea so I copied her and made our Christmas stockings. I added some things here and there.

Wednesday night was our ward Progressive Relief Society dinner. My job was to make the yams and Josh's mom made a Tres Leches cake. We both put them in the fridge the night before so we'd be ready to go the next day. While I was at work, I texted Josh's dad and had him put my yams in the oven for one hour. I got home and Josh's mom, Merlynn, looked distraught. She kept saying she wanted to cry. After I asked what happened I couldn't help but bust up laughing. She got home and realized that Ray had put her cake, she had already made in the oven thinking it was my yams. What a disaster! After 20 minutes in the oven she quickly tried to bring it back to life by putting it in the freezer. Even though my yams needed 1 hr in the oven we still got a solid 45 minutes. Luke warm yams are delicious :) Good times.


Last but not least, we finally put together a double date with Nick and Lu! We ate at Malawis and went to watch Lone Peak play. Really random but the boys enjoyed it. After the game Lu and I had to ask who won.

The month of November 2012

November flew by. Guess that's what happens during the Holidays. This month has been pretty eventful and filled with good news....no we aren't pregnant sorry. Nor are we trying for a while. (I do love babies though) Josh tells me I should stop telling people I want to steal their child. (he thinks it will freak people out) Fair enough!

Work this month has been so busy. I have been going in at 7:30 am and working from home until 10:30pm. I'm glad I have Josh to offer making dinner. He made some great homemade waffles.

One night I decided to go see my best friend Lu in Spanish Fork while Josh played basketball with his friends. Her baby Eliza is growing up so fast. I love being around the both of them. It's so surreal to see one of your closest friends have a baby. Watching her be a mom made me so happy. It's crazy to look back to when we both were in college and then here we are. Time flies. I keep telling Lu we need to live by each other. We've made a goal that once we both decide where we will live indefinitely she will be 10 feet away.

We made Salmon and baked cookies for dessert/ate cookie dough

Giving Eliza a bath was one of the highlights of my night. 

Once Eliza was down for bed Lu and I started going through old pictures of us from 5 years ago

I met Lu my sophomore year of college. I was with my friend Cherese knocking on apartments trying to find openings. Lu answered the door and said she had 2 open spots! The rest is history. We are sisters that were separated at birth. 

Next item of business is the great news....wait for it, wait for it. Josh got a JOB! Now I am thrilled for a couple of reasons. Some of you may think it sounds like I am just glad he is doing something other than golfing; suprisingly thats not the case. Josh worked so hard this summer and I loved that he was able to have a couple months to do whatever he wanted. Plus I loved that he was free to travel with me and we could pick up and leave whenever we wanted. 

Josh interviewed for a Pharmacist position at AcuPharm. They loved him and hired him on the spot. This is the exact opportunity he has been looking for. Where he works is a closed door pharmacy; this is nice because he doesn't have to deal with random customers. Instead he sends out prescriptions to nursing homes and long term care facilities. We both feel very blessed; this is exactly what he has been looking for. He starts November 28th.

The week we heard the good news we both decided to pick up and head to St. George for the weekend. I went to the early premier of Twilight with my mom and his sisters. I was shocked he didn't want to come see that movie....pysch. After it ended Josh and I hit the road.  We spent the weekend eating and relaxing. Josh participated in a golf tournament with his friend Bryan. Bryans lives in St. George and invited Josh to play with his company.

While he did that I worked in Starbucks all day. Thank you wifi and the smell of Christmas. One of the days we went shopping in Vegas and saw the Cirque Du Soliel show KA. It was so entertaining! The story line was pretty mediocre but the stage and props were out of this world. That stage did more things than I ever thought possible. Overall it was one of the best weekends. Nowhere to be and it was just the two of us.

Us trying to not look blinded by the flash

That Tuesday Josh's sister Carlye had her baby. His name is Stetson! Josh has 5 sisters; 3 of which are pregnant. How fun would that be?! 

He looks like a natural. I had to laugh when the first words out of his mouth were, "Well, he looks just like every other baby" One thing I admire the most about Josh is how sweet he is with all of his nieces and nephews. They love Josh! He really is going to be the best dad someday.

Now is the time of the year for the meal I dread the most.....Thanksgiving. The only thing I can really appreciate are rolls and jam! Everyone thinks I am crazy but I feel very justified in feeling the way I do. Turkey....dry and hard to swallow (fake turkey is much better), stuffing....um what the heck, mashed potatoes....no thanks, cabbage should be for prisoners, and pumpkin pie should be sold in the dog food isle.

Every other year my moms side of the family goes up to Stein Ericksens lodge and sleeps there for a couple of nights. Everyone gets their own unit and just hangs out. We spend every night playing games and eating food. We usually do the buffet up there but this time we decided to cook in one of the units. My favorite part of the meal this year were the yams that my aunt Kathy made. A job well done! It was so fun to spend my first Thanksgiving being married. Having Josh there made it feel complete! Josh and I were stoked to see our room.

Our favorite part was the hot tub on our balcony. Josh and I talked about how crazy it is that people live like this on a regular basis. At what point to people feel they "deserve" this life? You know there are those people who need their drink chilled and sheets fluffed. Ha we just felt thrilled to be there. 

My attempt to give Josh a lap dance while my dad was watching. Nothing better than making Big How and Josh feel awkward. Notice Josh's attempt to get up. 

My husband pretending to care about nature and Mitchell pretending he is gay

My dad was concerned for Mitchell and said he will never land a job after taking that picture

I have the best Family. They call us the Thundering Herd. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is our tradition to go around in a circle and say what we are grateful for. There are a lot of tears and the spirit is so strong. I feel so blessed to have a family that is so close. We are always getting together and consider our cousins our best friends. The only thing that was missing was my sister Isabelle. I am so proud of her willingness to serve the Lord. One more year until she is back with us!

My immediate family decided to stay one more night. My dad took us to breakfast then we spent the afternoon doing some Black Friday shopping at the outlets. Thank you J Crew for being 50% off. I could actually bring myself to buy from there. For dinner we went to our favorite sushi place on Main Street. 

My brother Jensen is what you call a character. He should be in commercials because he has a personality like you wouldn't believe. He doesn't no what the word NO means. He is always looking for a party. Mitchell is such a gentleman and loves telling stories. Sometimes they have to do with the topic of discussion and other times not at all. We all envy his style. Isabelle is very creative. She is so good with people and loves doing things for others. She has the best taste and has a huge heart. One of my favorite things her sense of humor. She is so quick and makes me laugh. Olivia is my other half, besides Josh.  She is so talented and beyond smart. She has more friends than I have ever met and is really domestic; you can imagine how this makes me look bad. She understands me and we have so much in common. Will is her boyfriend. We feel so lucky to have known him all these years. He treats her like a princess and is the best guy. My dad aka Big How is the hardest worker you'll ever meet. His number one priority are his kids and continually strives to give us the world. He loves the snow and looking at houses. He has an obsession with paintings, shoes and coats. My mom aka Karebear is the most selfless person. She never does anything for herself and drops everything for her kids. She is our number one fan and is the life of the party. Josh is easily the best thing that has ever happened to me. Josh has every quality I have ever wanted in someone and more. He is so smart and loves to read. He has some hilarious dance moves and a very whity sense of humor. Josh is the most trusting person I know and sees the world in such a positive light. 

I loved this month for so many reasons. I have so much to be grateful for!