Fun on the Farm

Chris's parents have some horses on their land that they are boarding for some friends, and they allow us to ride them whenever we want! So when we have family over, we love to take them out and ride the horses. The kids LOVED doing this on Super Bowl Sunday :)

New Years Resolutions!

Well, it's almost the end of January, and I am finally getting around to our New Years Resolutions! It's been a busy month and a lot has been on my mind. I can just feel that this is going to be an awesome year! I get a little impatient cause I just want things NOW, but I know everything will happen when it's supposed to. There are a few things that I would like to accomplish, and a few things Chris and I want to accomplish together!

*I want to get my credit card paid off and get rid of it! That thing haunts me in my sleep and I want it GONE

*My car will be paid off in April! I am so excited! I have been waiting a long time to have that done.

*Chris and I want to move away from Idaho Falls. It's way too cold here, I need sunshine, and we need to get out on our own together, to be able to rely on each other. There's bad memories for both of us here, and we need a new start!

*I would say that I want to lose a certain amount of weight, but I think I will be safe and just say that I want to work out 3 times a week, and just feel good in my skin. That's what's most important!

*I want to keep learning hair and I want to be a better stylist! More organized and knowledgable. I LOVE DOING HAIR!

*Chris and I want to be able to get sealed this year. We are still in the process of getting clearance, but hopefully by our one year mark we can be sealed for eternity!

*We also want to be able to go on a cruise for our one year anniversary. When we got married we started putting our quarters in a big water jug, and that's what we will use for our trip. There is already A LOT of quarters in there. :)

Well, I am sure I could go on and on, but I will stop there. Don't want to overwhelm myself too much this year! I can't wait to see what this year brings us.

New Years

This New Years was the BEST New Years I have ever had. Chris and I had decided that we wanted to get away for New Years since we spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas at home. So I started doing some research online, looking for anything fun that we could do in either Boise or Salt Lake! And I found this: A party at the Marriott hotel down by the University of Utah! It came with a package deal of 2 tickets to the party (a $45/person value), a room to stay in that night, all of the hotels amenities, and a 1pm check out the next day for $150. I knew that we could not pass this up! So we made our reservations and patiently waited for that day to come. We decided to leave Friday afternoon and head to Logan to visit Chris's friend Brandon and his wife Amanda for the night. They were nice enough to let us stay the night, and it was fun to catch up. We went and ate at a very yummy pizza place (where I ate half of our medium pizza!), chatted for a while, and watched a movie (I can't remember the name....maybe Transporter?) The bed we slept on was a little different then we were used to. It was a memory foam bed and we could tell that it would take more than one night to get used to that thing. haha but it was a lot of fun and my first time seeing Logan! Chris and Brandon had a little male bonding time by playing some Xbox while I browsed the internet, and then we got on the road to Salt Lake around 11am! Driving through Utah made me miss it a little bit. I miss the mountains and all of the things to see and places to go. There isn't much going on in Idaho Falls. :) I DID NOT miss the snow of course since we get a lot of it in Idaho. We found our way to our hotel (thanks to our handy GPS!) and got all checked in. This place was so nice! They had a nice old man to help with bags, a glass elevator, a warm pool and a gym, the bathrooms had granite counters, and the bed was SO COMFY! Chris still talks about that bed and how he wants to go back to it. :) After we got all of our stuff in our room, we went and ate lunch at Cafe Rio, and then we headed down to Eagle Mountain to visit my friends Carrie and Chris Carlton. I hadn't seen their new place and it had been so long since I had seen them, I was so happy when she asked if we could come down! But, once we got into town, we noticed that our battery light was on, so Chris wanted to get that checked out. We stopped at O'Rileys and had them test it.....he told us that our battery wasn't getting enough juice, and our car was probably going to break down in the next hour! We were kind of freaking out since it would take 40 minutes to get back to our hotel. We went to Carrie's and told them what was wrong. Thankfully, they had one of their family members visiting who knew a lot about cars, so him, and both Chris's went out to look at the car, decided it was the alternator, went and bought one, and switched it our themselves! I was very impressed with the men, and I got to chat with Carrie and play with her girls which was super fun! Hopefully we will get to see them again soon and be able to relax and enjoy our visit rather than having to worry about our car. Thanks for all your help Carrie and Chris! By the time we got back to our hotel, we only had a little bit of time to relax before needing to get ready for the party. We were wanting to go to temple square and the Gateway that night, but because of our car issues, it wasn't able to happen. So, before we went down to the party we decided to stay another night at the hotel so we could do those things, and make sure our car would be able to make it back to Idaho since we were almost out of antifreeze as well. So we got all dressed up for the party, booked another night in our room, and partied the night away!This party was very classy, not trashy which I loved. The men were dressed in tux's or ties and suit jackets. I bought a dress that matched Chris's new shirt and tie (which EVERYONE commented on throughout the night. They loved how we matched). This is a picture of our stuffed elevator :) There was a ballroom with dancing and an awesome DJ, food from all over the world, a huge dessert bar, a movie room to watch a movie with a candy buffet, a gaming room to play video games, mashed potato bar served in martini glasses, and a great jazz band. The theme was "An Affair to Remember" which is a movie that came out in the 50's, so they had a few employees dressed up as some famous people during that time, including Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, and Charlie Chaplin. It was so fun! Chris and I had a great time tasting all the foods, dancing our butts off, meeting some really great people (couldn't tell your their names though ;), and not worrying about any trashiness that could sometimes come with certain New Years parties. After our midnight countdown and kiss, we headed up to our room and crashed. It was such a good night! The next day we slept in, went and worked out in the gym, went and got some pizza from pizza hut and took it back to our hotel to eat while we watched The House Bunny. I then watched Confessions of a Drama Queen while Chris took a nap. :) We had been wanting to see New Years Eve movie, so we drove down to the Gateway, and saw it! It was a great movie! Funny, entertaining, and even makes you cry a little bit, haha. After that we went to Temple Square to see the lights, visitors center, and visit with the sister missionaries. It was the last night with the lights so I was so happy we got to see them! We grabbed some Del Taco on our way back to the hotel, where we ate, went swimming and sat in the hot tub, and then headed for bed. We did a lot of things, yet it was still a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Monday morning, I went to the gym and worked out while Chris did some laps in the pool. We got all packed, and started heading back to Idaho. But before we left town, we made sure our antifreeze was topped off, and got some lunch at In and Out!! Boy had I missed that place, and Chris had never had In and Out, so it was a treat for him too! We made it back to Idaho Falls safely, ready for the new Bachelor season! :) We will always remember that trip, always recommend that hotel to anyone going to Salt Lake, and always want to go back for more fun memories. Happy 2012 everybody!

Christmas

Chris and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with his family this year. Christmas Eve was spent eating lots of yummy food, like my oreo truffles I made (and Chris helped :). Chris's cousins Melissa and Brandon and their 2 cute babies came over as well as his grandparents.We ate food, sang christmas songs, played a gift exchange game, and watched their old home videos. We went to bed early cause we were so excited for Christmas to come!!

The next morning we had all agreed to wake up at 8am since we didn't want to get up too early but also have enough time to open presents and get ready for 11am church. So we got everybody up and started opening gifts! We drew names this year, and I got Steve. Which by the way, is someone who is EXTREMELY difficult to buy for cause he has everything he ever wants or needs. But he loved the Michael Jordan socks I had gotten him earlier in the year, so I got him some more of those, an iTunes gift card for his iPhone, and the movie The Warrior. Steve also drew MY name, and he went way overboard. He made me feel bad for just getting him a movie. :) He gave me a $200 gift card to Hollister, and a $50 card to Wet Seal. Guess I am going to have to go shopping! My honey gave a gift certificate to get an hour massage (I have been wanting one for so long!), an arm band for my iPod Touch for when I workout, and an awesome camera! My mother in law gave me a super cute new purse, and I also received lotion, and candy, and warm socks! I gave Chris some new dress shirts in black and maroon with a nice tie to match them, a kit of everything he needs to wash his car, new dress shoes, and shoe polish. He also got some new shirts and Fast Five from his parents. His mom drew his name and she gave him a $60 gift card to the movie theater (which we used up the very first week! We saw War Horse, Mission Impossible, and Darkest Hour) hahaha we love our movies!! :)

After presents we ate a yummy french toast breakfast and eggnog, got dressed, and went to church! Esther put together the christmas program for Sacrament and it was BEAUTIFUL. The music was amazing and it brought the spirit so much. There was only Sacrament that day, so we went home and lounged around the rest of the afternoon, played cards, and ate more food. Chris and I were spending Christmas dinner with Stephanie Lee and her family, so I whipped up a green bean casserole and we went over to their house. The dinner was so yummy and it was so fun to see them again since they now live in Vegas. We had a gift exchange which Stephanie gave us a box of my favorite cereal and eggnog cookies from Trader Joes (which I ate the whole box myself :). After that Chris and I went to see War Horse together, which was a really good movie and a little sad too. But, overall, it was a great day! I missed my family a lot, but we are really hoping that we can spend Christmas with them next year!

Lyla Rose

The beginning of December, I got to go down and visit cute little Lyla Rose. She was born almost 3 weeks ago, and I was so grateful my husband bought me a plane ticket to go visit my best friend Sarah and her husband Cuyler, and see their newest addition. I got down there Thursday morning and was picked up at the airport by Sarah's parents. They were in town for business and were actually on their way out of town. I was glad to be able to see them since it had been a while! We hung out at their apartment for the afternoon. I got to hold the sweet baby while Sarah got some things done around the place. Cuyler came home and we ate some dinner that Sarah made, watched I Am Number Four, chatted, and went to bed. Friday, Sarah and I slept in a little bit, and then I got to take her and baby to their doctor's appointment! Lyla had to get checked to make sure she was developing okay, and she passed with flying colors :) We then got some lunch from Wendy's and made our way over to Laura's (sarah's sister) house to visit her new baby she had a couple months before. Lyla is pretty much the same size as her cousin even though they are 3 months apart. It's so cute. I hadn't seen Laura and Joseph for over a year so it was good to see them even for just a minute. They are such a cute family and their house is really nice! Sarah and I stopped and picked up some pizza and ice cream and Captain America to entertain us when we got home. It was a great night in just vegging with my favorite friends. Saturday, Cuyler didn't have to work so we got spend the day all together. Cuyler made us omlettes for breakfast, we lounged around and watched their Simpson DVDs, played with the baby, got some Jimmy Johns, played LOTS of card games and ate LOTS of Blue Bell Ice Cream. We stayed up till 2am, and I had to get up at 4am to get ready to go to the airport, so I was living on 2 hours sleep! Cuyler and Sarah drove me to the airport, and I was so sad to leave them! My flight was supposed to leave at 7am for Idaho Falls, but during the night we had gotten a hail storm so there was ice on the wings so we had to wait for the SUN to melt the ice! I couldn't believe it! They told us it was going to take a half hour, but it ended up taking almost 2 hours, so I was 2 hours late getting into Idaho Falls. It felt so good to get off that plane. I was sad to leave the warm weather, but I had missed my husband so much so it was good to go back to him. :) Thank you for the awesome weekend Sarah and Cuyler!

Black Friday

Alright. I got cookies in the oven baking, and the boys (Chris, Chris's Dad, and Dan) are downstairs watching football, so I wanted to share with all of you, my very first Black Friday shopping experience. About a month ago, I decided that I wanted a camera for Christmas. A nice one. Not one of those cheap little ones. A good one. So when the ads for Black Friday came out, I was really excited to see that Target had a good one for $100! Chris and Jared and I went and spent it with Stephanie and her family. I made a sweet potato casserole (found the recipe on Pinterest!) cause if there aren't sweet potatoes, then its not a real holiday! :) We ate lots of food and visited for a while, then went home and played Fat Dog. If you don't know what Fat Dog is, then just ask. My family loves to play on Thanksgiving and Christmas :) I figured that Target would get pretty busy so I wanted to get there early to get a good spot in line. Chris wanted to watch part of the football game, so I went over at about 7pm, and Chris got there at about 8:45pm. I was pretty close to the door so that made me really excited! I wanted that camera! I was around some pretty nice people so the time went really fast from getting to talk to someone. Once Chris got there, he took my spot in line and I took the car to go to the bathroom and get us hot chocolate. It was starting to get super cold! By 10pm, the cold was too much to bear. My toes felt like they were going to fall off! So I went and sat in the car for a little bit, then it was Chris's turn to find a bathroom, and then it was finally count down till Midnight!

Right before it was time for the store to open, a bunch of people started arriving and lining up across from the entrance. So when they started letting us people who had been waiting for hours in, all those people tried to run in with us! We all stopped and started yelling at them to get to the back of the line, and security had to come out and push them back so they wouldn't cut in line. I got scared! I just tried to stay against the wall of the store and waited for our turn to go inside. Once inside, it got real exciting!! We walked as fast as we could (since apparently we weren't allowed to run), to the back of the store to where my camera was. It was hilarious! We saw this itty bitty girl trying to drag a HUGE TV down the aisle. Big men pushing carts with toys in them. And pushing through the ipod people so I could get my camera.....but, I GOT IT! There werent' many left so I was so excited to get my name on one of those boxes! After we paid for it, we went to go look at their cheap movies, but I didn't feel like it was worth standing in the huge line again to pay $2 for a movie. So we left. It was almost 1am and I was ready for bed!

When we woke up the next morning we went and had a yummy breakfast at Perkins and then braved the mall. It was crowded of course but Chris got some new church shoes that he had been wanting for a long time, and I bought some new jeans at American Eagle. So overall, it was a good Black Friday! Not sure if I want to do it again.....we'll see what kind of deals they have next year! :)

Car

My car is finally out of the shop! It has been in and out of the shop for the past 2 weeks and it's finally done! We ended up having to put all new tires on, fix the alignment, repair my tire rods, and put in new axle seals. Just the sort of thing you want when you first get married huh? Good thing we had all that wedding money! The Lord does look out for us though. We thought we were going to be able to move into an apartment, but He made sure that everything we tried did not work out so we could have that money for my car. Its kind of a bummer having to start over and pushing back moving, but we know that we will find something when we are supposed to. In the meantime, we have a warm bed to sleep in, food to eat, and Chris's parents have been so good to us! It's been a blessing for them letting us stay in their basement.

While my car was in the shop, I got to drive this beauty around:

Chris was pretty jealous. He got to drive it the first day and I drove it the other 2 days. He was sad that I had to take it back last night and would try to think of any reason to drive somewhere so he could drive it. :) It was a pretty good car! Comfy seats, has some GUTS, I like how it sounds when I start it up, and a smooth ride. But, I am also glad to have my car back. I do love my car. It's small and gets me where I need to be. Its been through a lot but still going strong!