The Holidays ~ 2010

Landen and I had a wonderful holiday season!  Our first as husband and wife.  We were able to do a lot of fun things together.  Here are some of our Christmas Adventures:

#1: We went to see The Forgotten Carols, by Michael McLean.  It was incredible!  The spirit was so strong there, yes I cried multiple times. It was such a great way to kick off the holiday season, to be reminded of the purpose of celebrating this time of year, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

#2: This was more "mine" than "ours"...but at work we do a Food and Fund Day every year.  Our patients can come in and get a free adjustment that day in exchange for a food and cash donation.  We all donate our time that day at work as our part of the donation.  It was a great way to help serve those who are less fortunate than us and once again remember the Spirit of the Season.

This is all the food we collected :)

 #3: Landen and I went to see the Hogle Zoo Lights with some of my friends from work and their families.  It was fun to walk around and see all the lights.  It was FREEZING...but oh well, we enjoyed it anyway.  It was so fun to watch my friends' kids enjoying themselves :)  We had a great night!

  

The Gingerbread House!!!

Christmas Under the Sea 

My pictures of the tigers didn't turn out too good...but we thought this sign was hilarious...and very informational! 

 I was soooooooooo cold!

My friends Mindy and Natalie 

#4: Christmas!!!  Need I say more???  We spent Christmas with Landen's family this year.  It was quite fun.  It was filled with lots of family and LOTS of food...delicious, yummy food :) 

Christmas Eve we had a family get together with Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, etc.  We had dinner and then did a "Favorites" gift exchange.  Everyone brought something $5 or under that was one of their favorites and then when their gift was picked from the table they got to explain why it was their favorite.  It was a blast!!! 

Christmas morning Momma Nita made pull aparts (aka Monkey Bread for people from my neck of the woods!) and Derek, Jenni, Henry and Harrison came over to do presents!  It was a great morning.  That afternoon we visited Jordan, then headed down to Brent and Stacy's to eat and hang out the rest of the day.  On our way home we visited his Grandma and Grandpa Hardy, who I had never met and Landen still hadn't seen them since he got home from his mission, so it was a great visit!  All in all it was a fabulous day!  I love Christmas!

 Adri and Harrison

 Henry

Landen's parents got us a TV!!!  WOW!  It was quite amazing and we are super grateful! 

Here starts the beginning of Landen's Priceless Faces...you would think he was 5!!!  I love this!!!

I bought the pumpkin spice pudding I use to make the pumpkin pie that he loves and wrapped them up and put them in with one of his gifts...he was quite excited!  He's only been asking me to make that pie since March... 

 Inception...I missed the fist pump though...the smile will just have to do!

 He's wearing the hat we picked out about a month ago but we vowed would be for Christmas.  It was wrapped with his other gift: His Batman Belt Buckle!

#5: SNOW.  Lots and lots of snow.  This year has been very giving in the form of snow.  Landen got to go skiing with some friends a few weeks ago and LOVED it of course.  I just took this picture really quick the other day, but it doesn't do it justice at all.  This morning I opened the door to literally a foot of snow!  AHHHH!!!  There actually have been many mornings where we get surprised when we open the door to emerge from our basement apartment...we really have NO IDEA what the weather is doing when we're down here!!!  Opening our front door is like opening a box of chocolates...you really NEVER know what you're going to get! 

Indiana Reception Part 2

Our friend, Kim, who was our party planner for the reception got a LOT of great pictures and sent them to me :)  This makes me super happy.  So here are some more picture from our reception...including some volleyball ones...

 Megan and Me!  The Bells drove out of their way on their way to vacation to come see us...that meant soooooo much to me!

 Mom and Dad...they're just wonderful.

 And this is why Mom asked me earlier in the day, "Can you lift your arms up over your head with your dress on?" :

Mom's side of the family, I don't get to see them very often so it was so great to have most of us together! 

Some of my family :) 

 Landen busting a move doing the Cotton Eyed Joe!!!

Mike and Kim...they made this night happen :)  Thanks!!! 

Kim, Mom and I at the end of the night...it's finally over! HA! 

A HUGE thanks to Mom and Dad for making this all possible!  We really appreciate you doing this for us!

Christmas Questions

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper...I love wrapping, making the gifts all pretty...if it's something small I'll put it in a bigger box so I can decorate it more!


2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL. This is my first year without a real one and I'm having withdrawls...but one day I'll have one again!  I have to show Landen how amazing they are!


3. When do you put up the tree? Depends on the year and how motivated I am.


4. When do you take the tree down? Ummm...this is my first year with my own tree and not the family tree...so we'll see...probably not too long after Chrismas, at that point it becomes clutter, and I don't like clutter.


5. Do you like eggnog? Nope, but Landen LOVES it!  (He is shaking his head and just said, "Ummm hmmmm..."


6. Favorite gift received as a child? ...what's the definition of child?  When I was little it was my Baby Alive (I'm pretty sure it was for Christmas) but when I was older it was my CD player for my car.


7. Hardest person to buy for?  Dad


8. Easiest person to buy for? Mom


9. Do you have a nativity scene? Used to...I don't know where it is...


10. Mail or email Christmas cards? When I do them, definitely MAIL.  There's just something special about getting Christmas cards :)


11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  I think my parents and others always did a good job...if something was bad I obviously blocked it from memory...and Landen just said, "Definitely NOT what I got you!"


12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf, White Christmas, The Santa Clause, The Grinch, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone, Christmas Vacation...do I have to choose only one???


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Random times...whenever I have money!


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Probably.


15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? "The Spread" ...meaning all the food our hearts could desire that we put out Christmas Eve and have out all night and then all day Christmas.  YUM.


16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? The big colored ones.


17. Favorite Christmas song? Pretty much the Amy Grant Home for Christmas Album


18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I'm at that stage in life where I travel.


19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? OF COURSE!  I may have to sing the song to help me out...but I can do it!


20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? Angel or star...at home it's always been and angel, but I haven't decided on my own yet.


21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  Definitely Morning.


22. Favorite children's Christmas song? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer


23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowded stores...I avoid them at all costs.


24. Favorite ornament theme or color? ...what does this even mean?!  We have all different ones...every year we got a new one to add to the collection...I LOVE MY ORNAMENTS!


25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day? Both.


26. What do you want for Christmas this year?  My husband asked me the same question and I couldn't come up with anything!


27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa? That's a negative.


28. Age you discovered who Santa was? No idea...again, one of those memories I have repressed...


29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? Absolutely hot chocolate.


30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors? Mostly traditional with a few others added in here and there I guess.


31. Do you have any Christmas decorations on your roof?  Nope.


32. How does Santa get into your house? Chimney or magic key?  Just plain old MAGIC.


33. Do you prefer gifts or gift cards?  BOTH PLEASE :)


34. Favorite children's Christmas Cartoon? Definitely The Grinch.


YOUR TURN!!

Indiana Reception ~ October 16th, 2010

Landen and I were able to fly back to Indiana in October to have a reception there.  It was a blast to go home, as usual.  I'm glad we were able to have a reception so I was able to see EVERYONE in the too short 3 1/2 days we were there.  It was awesome!  We had the first glitch of all the wedding events that day...my slip got left at the restaurant where we had the luncheon so when I went to get into my dress for the reception we had a minor delay.  But thanks to a great brother we got it there so I could get dressed.  All in all I have to say that I'm grateful the slip got left there, not at our house, not in Utah, etc.  It's pretty amazing that we made it that far without any hiccups :)  We had such an amazing party that night!  Filled with great family, great friends, great food, lots of dancing...and VOLLEYBALL.  Yes, I said volleyball.  I am probably the only person you know who played volleyball in their wedding dress!  Luckily I had my chucks on and not my heels ;)  Here are some pictures to document the evening!  We love to party!

 Our first dance together...literally.

 Father/Daughter dance.  Yes, I'm crying.  Big surprise :)

And since Landen thought it was so funny I cried we made them do a Mother/Son dance :)

Hitting the dance floor with my Grandma, Mom and Aunt!!!  This is how we party.

Yes, we did...and I got him so much better!  I thought, "Hey, I don't have to wear my dress again..."

...Random Happenings...

I decided I need to be better at writing things down.  I used to be soooo good at journaling, but I've been horrible for about the past year...and when I say horrible I mean I haven't really done it.  So, this is my attempt to be better :)  We'll see how it goes. 


1. My biggest fear of living in this basement apartment happened this past week.  I went to put on my slippers and as I slid my foot in I felt something a little odd but didn't notice it immediately until my toe squished a spider!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  Absolutely disgusting.  Blah.  It still gives me the creeps.  I kinda freaked.  I made Landen clean it out.  Yuck.  I am not  fan.  I told our landlord because I thought it was funny (in hindsight) and he said, "I'm glad you can laugh about it!"  Yeah...let's just say I check my slippers every time before I put them on!


2.  We finally got callings in our ward!  We will be Primary Workers :)  It's so weird to me that this is now an option...it hasn't even been an option for me for YEARS!!!  I like it.  Apparently there is, and I quote, "a class with 3 girls and 3 boys...3 boys who could use a strong young man to help keep them settled down and who seem to respond better to a male voice..."  Yeah...this could be interesting, I'm sure there are good stories to come :)  I'm excited to get started!  I love the children.


3.  Luckily I was having a super lazy day on Saturday and had the thought, "I should check online to see if there are any good couches this weekend..."  We've been using our redneck couch for awhile: twin mattress on the floor pushed half way under the lovesac therefore making a redneck couch :)  Obviously we've been looking for couches for a few months and just haven't found any that we liked in our price range.  We found one at IKEA that we fell in love with but it was a little too pricey...I just didn't feel good spending that much money on it.  So we decided to keep waiting to see what we could fine.  I haven't been looking much lately but on Saturday I'm glad I followed the thought to look!  There was a couch and loveseat set that was only 3 months old for a fabulous price!!!  I kept looking at them and told Landen we should go check them out...and to make it better they literally lived about 2 blocks down the road!  We hurried down there and the couches were still there and we bought them on the spot.  I had no inhibitions on dropping that money!  It was perfect.  We have an awesome landlord and he came down with his truck to pick them up!  Sweet!  So within about an hour of finding them we had couches.  Finally.  I never realized how much I took for granted always living in a place or with people who had couches.  I'm so grateful for this little tender mercy of the Lord.  He really is in the details of our lives :)  Here are a few pictures of our great purchase:

 Well, I think that is sufficient for tonight.  Hopefully I can keep this up!

REAL Salt Lake Game

My boss is the chiropractor for the REAL Salt Lake Soccer Team.  My first day back to work after the wedding and honeymoon they asked if I wanted some tickets to the game that night because he wasn't going to be using them...umm...YES.  So Landen and I got to go to the game (for free!!!) and got a SWEET parking spot right next to the stadium.  We took our friends Megan and Rex with us and had a blast!!!  It was such a gorgeous night to go watch a soccer game.  I love sports!

The SWEET parking spot:

Megan and Rex

 Umm...so we treated ourselved to some awesome jerseys...Landen was so happy :)

 Our seats were AWESOME!!!

The Happily Married Couple

And yes, we WON!!!  4-1  So good.