Deck the House!

Even though we weren't spending Christmas here in Michigan we still decked out our house to make it feel festive! I, like most, LOVE Christmastime! I love lights. I love snow. I love caroling. And most of all, I love the kindness. I love it all. So, bringing the Christmas spirit into our home was really important to me! We went out and picked our tree. And for family home evening we decorated it, put some lights up around the house and brought out Grandma Bunny's hand quilted Christmas quilt that she made for us. It is really an amazing quilt and such a special gift! It helps us to remember her and all of our other loved ones who have passed on.

Bringing home our tree

Fully decorated and lit tree and Grandma Bunny's Christmas quilt on the couch!

Someday we'll have enough decorations to fill up a tree! :)

Ho ho ho! Gimme some milk!

I made this wreath out of the extra tree branches and some red berries I found outside on a walk. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of those family holidays where being with family is what makes it so special and so much fun! Being 2,357 miles away from my family and 1,637 miles from Austin's family makes being with family pretty darn difficult. Especially since U of M only gives Thursday and Friday off from school.

So, despite my nervous feelings regarding making an entire turkey dinner by myself we went ahead and had our first Thanksgiving holiday on our own. We feel all grown up now! And, to my surprise, making the perfect turkey was not such an impossible task after all. :) 

Homemade rolls

The beautiful bird. :)

We spent the day (between cooking things) at a state park. We walked around, explored all the lakes and forested trails and did some bird watching. Oliver LOVES being outside.

Oliver's first Thanksgiving!

My hungry husband

My handsome little man

Everything turned out great!

Our 3 Year Anniversary!

I can't believe it's already been 3 years since I married the most handsome, fun and smart man out there! Seriously! He's not only my eternal companion, but he's my travel partner, fellow parent, hiking buddy, game board competitor, and best of all.... my best friend in the entire world! I love this man. And, I even like him too. :)

November 21, 2009

Such a happy day!

Such a WINDY day! 

 To celebrate our anniversary this year we decided to "dine in" and have a romantic evening at home. We sent Ollie to a friends house for the evening and we made the most delicious fondues for dinner. We had gruyere and emmentaler cheese fondue with lobster tail, french bread and lots of veggies. And, we also had chocolate cheesecake fondue with strawberries, mini marshmallows and pretzel sticks. IT. WAS. AMAZING! 

David Day

Exactly two years ago today David passed away in a plane crash. I still can't believe he's not here with us. I still dream about him all the time. It's almost like he's trying to tell me that he'll always be a part of our lives even if he's not here physically. I know that's true. But, I still miss him like crazy. 

I use to hate it when people said, "time will heal", "the pain will go away", etc. But, now I truly understand.  The pain doesn't disappear but it just fades over time. Now I can think about David without feeling miserable. I can actually remember all the good times we had and all the funny memories of him. 

I was going through a bunch of old pictures and decided to post a few on here in remembrance of him.  The first picture is in 2007 because that's when David came home from his mission and when he and I became close. I was about to graduate from High School and then that summer we went off to BYU together. From 2007 until the day he died in 2010 we were really good friends. It was so nice to have those few years where I got to know him so well. All those memories mean so much to me.

A few of my favorite memories of David:

• Hiking squaw peak during my first week at BYU.
• Going to the BYU homecoming dance together.
• One time David and I were on a walk and he stopped at an ATM, pulled out some cash and made me take it because he heard from someone that I was short on money that month and was living off of yogurt. 
• Right after a nasty break-up I was out on a run and stopped by his apartment crying. We sat on a small hill outside and he put his arm around me and just let me cry. For the next few weeks after that he was constantly calling to check up on me, taking me to lunch, etc. 
• On one of David's first flights he let me wait in the landing area with a radio so I could hear what was going on in the air above me and watch him take off and land the plane. It was awesome!

February 2007- David arriving home from his mission in Monterrey, Mexico.

My high school graduation- June 2007

Fall semester 2007- Just after having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson

BYU homecoming dance- fall semester 2008

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Whitney in St. George, Utah- Summer 2009. This was the last time we saw Grandpa because he died shortly after this visit. Grandma passed away a year later and David passed away a few months after her. I love this picture because it reminds me that David is with them both now.

St. George temple- Summer 2009- this was taken shortly after we'd been apart for 6 months while I was in China. He picked me up from the airport, then we met our whole family in St. George.

Mark Twain riverboat cruise in Hannibal, Missouri- Summer 2009

Nauvoo trip- Summer 2009

David and Angie got married! - December 2009

Family bbq in Oregon- Summer 2010. We made the guys (Austin, David and Josh) act out a disney scene on this stage. haha

November 17, 2010 David's plane crashed and he passed away. 

Standing at the crash site a few days after the accident. 

Our whole family. Together forever. :)

The whole family and I decided that from this year on we are naming this day "David Day" and we're going to do things that remind us of David. This year I'm making his favorite meal... Swedish Meatballs, and watching the new Spiderman movie. haha! Or maybe I'll watch the Simpson's Movie... either way. David will be all over this house of mine. :)

Lake Erie

As of Saturday, we've now been to 2 out of the 5 great lakes! We visited Lake Michigan back in May when we came out to visit Ann Arbor and this past Saturday we spent the day at Lake Erie. It was a beautiful day (still cold though) and we walked up and down the beaches and along some of the trails that follow the edge of the lake. The great lakes are seriously amazing because they look like the ocean! They are HUGE! At this lake, Lake Erie, you can see windmills in the horizon which are on the coast of Canada. You can also see the coast of Ohio in the other direction. It's really a cool National Park. We're planning to go back in the summer when you can swim, spread out a picnic blanket and really enjoy the beach! 

Halloweeeeeen!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween! It is seriously one of my favorite holidays! I love dressing up and carving pumpkins and hanging out with friends. It's just great. And having a little one makes it even more great. Since Ollie is too young for trick-or-treating and such we decided to have a small little party of sorts at our place. We kept it simple and made homemade pizzas and also had some hot apple cider and cupcakes. Then we watched this hilarious and scary movie with the worst acting called "Drag Me to Hell"! The perfect Halloween movie. A lot of jumps and a lot of laughs. Thanks Ben and Carolyn Roden for introducing us to this wonderful film. haha! It's a great Halloween tradition.

Ollie the dragon

Careful.... he might roll you over or gum you to death! :)

So strong and fierce! haha

Bekah and Dave McClure! Bekah dressed as Dave and Dave dressed as Bekah!!! They even wore eachother's shoes and jackets. haha! It was so great.

Rachel and Spencer Wallin came as babies! They were probably the most comfortable out of all of us! 

I was a witch, Austin was a mad scientist and Oliver was a dragon

We had homemade pizza, hot apple cider and pumpkin spice cupcakes! It was so delicious!

My handsome fellas!

Pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese cinnamon frosting.

F.H.E.- Pumpkin Carving

For family home evening we decided to carve a pumpkin and eat donuts! Who doesn't love pumpkin carving, delicious donuts and fun halloween music? Ollie just hung out on the floor smiling and laughing! He seemed to really love the halloween music we had playing (or maybe he just loved mommy singing and dancing along to the silly songs)! haha!

 Austin has been watching a show called "The Walking Dead" which is about zombies. So, naturally, he really wanted to carve a zombie pumpkin.

Austin was in charge of the zombie and I was in charge of the small, helpless victim.

This is our attempt at making the same face. haha!

I think it turned out pretty well!