2012 in Review

2012 Was another great year for us. A few trials, learned new things about each other, made new friends, lost some friends, fun vacations, and we still love each other! Here's a quick post of our year in review and some exciting things to come in 2013!

-Kevin's brother came home from his mission.
-We lost a loved one in the family.
-I started dancing again (for a short time)
-Celebrated One Year of Marriage.
-Graduated from Dixie State.
-Both of us were offered jobs in SLC on the same day.
-Moved to SLC.
-Went to Disneyland
-Lots of U Football games and a few Jazz games.
- I received a raise at work.
-Kevin did excellent in his first semester at the U.
-Kevin got a new job.
-Went to LOTS of our best friends weddings with more to come!
-Its snowed a lot.
-I actually completed a few goals I had for the year.
-Broncos are in the number one seed for their conference and going to the Play-Offs!

*Side note, I was asking Kevin what some of his highlights of the year were and he said "Had my first kid, bought a boat, made a couple million dollars...Oh wait, did you mean this last year or goals for 20 years from  now?" Me: "I meant this year, why are we having our first kid in 20 years?" Kevin: "I didn't say it was with you." Wow haha, it made me laugh and you have to truly know his humor to not be completely hurt by it.

Upcoming in 2013...
-Try to achieve more goals, some the same as last year :)
-It's going to snow some more.
-Moving into a 2 bedroom duplex.
-Lake Powell in June Woo woo!
-Hawaii in July
-Kevin's other little brother goes on his mission.
-Lots more U football games, and lots more Jazz games.
-Our friends are having babies.

That's all we know of for our future year but sounds pretty good I'd say. My brother and I were talking yesterday how we wish it was already June because of how excited we are. It's probably our last hoorah at the lake for a few years too. My dad thinks he's going to sell the boat or something...AH!! Tears will be shed that day by my mother and I so I'm determined to get LOTS of skiing, wake boarding and tanning in. My prime years are almost up anyway so definitely need to take advantage of such things. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's! Stay warm!!

Christmas in Dixie!!

This year Christmas was with my family down in St. George, which made it Kevin's first Christmas with my family. Can I just say how much I love St. George and miss it with every fiber of my being??? Christmas was pretty low key and a good little vacation for us. Granted I spent most of my time sleeping, using a box and half of Kleenex's along with 3 of the travel packs and on cold meds. (Still trying to get rid of this cold two weeks later) We were lucky enough to spend some time with friends and lots of family time. Both of my brothers and their families were staying at my parents house too so it definitely was a full house with all 10 of us and one bathroom. But we all had things to do at different times of the day so we were rarely fighting for the bathroom. I'll admit there were days where I didn't shower til at least 4pm... Ya I love vacations and being lazy :) When I was sleeping off my cold we were visiting friends, having our classic "Williams Family Game Night" playing "The Game of Things." Eating dutch oven potatoes, watching football, picking up some "G Droppings" from a beloved High School Graphics teacher who was my favorite, and eating lots of Holiday Goodies. I lived up to my last post and actually have pictures to post! I also have to add that I took some from my sister in law Jessica and some from my parent's camera as well. We ended up with some great gifts and tripled our movie collection (which wasn't too hard) We're definitely looking forward to our favorite gifts: Williams Lake Powell trip in June and Larson Hawaii trip in July (If we can save up enough money for the plane tickets.) 

I had to get some pictures of good ol' Dixie on Christmas Eve with the rain clouds and everything. So gorgeous and WAY better than any white Christmas. Unless the white is sand on the beach. I want that for Christmas someday.

This was actually the best picture of the boys in their Christmas Eve PJ's...You don't want to see the others haha. 

Us girls in our PJ's...Of course we had to get a funny one too!

My lovely Mom and Dad!

Colby & Jess

Lyman & Kim

Us :)

Here we are Christmas morning! It's tradition in my family to walk in and see what Santa brought with hot chocolate in your hand... some I won't name names put Mt. Dew in their mugs, but that's okay. 

These boys got a haul!

Their awesome superhero masks that their Aunt Jessica made.

This is a picture of my mom opening up her surprise gift. For our Christmas my parent's gave us all a family trip to Lake Powell on a house boat so we wanted to do something really special for my parents too. 

She's been wanting a Nook HD for a little while so that's what we got her!

Loved the surprise and we totally made her cry!

This is towards the end of the gift opening.

 My brother and grandparents after our traditional Christmas Breakfast.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spent with loved ones and are able to always remember our Savior, Jesus Christ and all that he did for us. That we shouldn't only celebrate his life during Christmas time but year round and always give service to others and remember Him. 

Thanksgiving at Bear Lake

This year Thanksgiving was with the Larson's and up at Kevin's grandparents cabin in Bear Lake. (I fail and have no pictures to document) There wasn't any snow on the ground so that was lovely! Not sure if I never noticed how the stuffing has been made at my family's Thanksgiving but Kevin's grandma started making the stuffing that morning, like real bread crumbs and the whole sha-bang. So good! Besides stuffing our faces with food all weekend lots of football was watched, Kevin, his brothers and uncles played a small turkey bowl, I went on a walk with one of my sister in laws and aunt and there were lots of naps taken! All in all Bear Lake was very relaxing and it was great to be around Kevin's family. We love that we're only an hour away from them now and able to see them more and go to more family functions. I just need to be cooler and take more pictures. I will say it's way nice that we're on the same holiday schedule as Kevin's older brother and his family so we're able to spend time with them since they live in California. We just need to make sure the rest of his siblings go on that schedule as well. Thanksgiving away from my family for the first time did make me realize I miss home grown veggies from my Grandpa's garden so when we have a house with a yard I will have a garden so that everyone can take pleasure in home grown, home made bottled beets :) I'm so lucky to have the in-laws that I have, just hope they keep loving me. ;)

I Don't Know About You, But I'm Feeling 22!!

Not really, but thanks to Taylor Swift's new album and her song "22" it kind of works.

Well yesterday (November 6th) was my 22nd Birthday! (Along with Election Day of course) I normally don't blog or share my Birthday all over but I have pictures to document this time. So why not?

Celebrations started on Sunday with a wonderful Birthday dinner up in Logan with Kevin's family. Then on Monday my work surprised me with ice cream cake from ColdStone and sang Happy Birthday to me!

On my actual Birthday, I decided to take the day off work just for fun, mostly because I really wanted to sleep in. Well, I slept in until 8:30...so guess I'll take it! After that I took a solo trip to the Salt Lake Temple and did Initiatory's.

Kevin came home from school a little bit later and gave me my Birthday present...Jazz tickets!!! Along with 3 pairs of shoes and some other warm clothes that we've slowly gotten in the last month. After, I went shopping with my sister in law and nephews for a birthday outfit. Finally got the mint skinny jeans I've been eyeing all season! (I'm like everyone else and became obsessed with them after seeing them everywhere.)

Then I came home and got ready because we were going to go out for Sushi... Little did I know that it was a surprise dinner with family and friends! That alone made my Birthday a heck of a lot better! I was wanting to stay home and in sweats so good thing I decided to get ready :) Thank you VERY much Kevin, Lyman, Kim, Bentley, Preston, Shawn, Hailey, Kennedy, Parker, Koy, Courtney, Nate & Duvae for the wonderful surprise and a wonderful Birthday! You guys rock!

 

After Sushi we went over to Lyman and Kim's for cake and ice cream. 

Nothing is better than "Nothing Bundt Cake" You HAVE to try it!!

The Jazz game was tonight (Nov. 7th) against the Lakers. The only time the Lakers will be in Utah this season, and what do you know... WE WON!!!!! 

After the game we went down to the court to see who we could get a picture with and Matt Harpring was our best choice :) I didn't really want to wait forever for the players to get out of the locker room.

Thanks everyone who wished me a happy birthday! A huge thank you to my Parents, Grandparents, Rusty and Debbie for calling me. My In-Laws for the Sunday Birthday dinner and to Kevin for making it such a great day with our friends and family!! Love you all!! 

Go Jazz!!

Game Time!

Wednesday night then Parker called up Kevin to see if we wanted his two tickets in the Suite at the Jazz game because he wasn't able to go. Um.. Heck yes! So thankful for friends who work or the Jazz :) They played Portland and even won! It was such a fun game and we were able to sit next to our great friends Koy and Courtney since Koy also works for the Jazz.

Yesterday, we had tickets to the U Blackout game. We went with Kevin's cousin Andrew and my older brother Lyman. Utah won their game which made it that much more fun and a great end to our game week! Now, since it had snowed a few days before and I can't handle being cold, at all, ever. Then Kevin and I went shopping earlier that day for some Utah gear and a few more warm clothing items for me. It was a gorgeous day of 57 degrees and at night it's not bad, unless your outside for almost 5 hours. Since I don't handle the cold at all, and Kevin was not going to leave the game early and I really did want to go then I went prepared. I had my regular G's, thermal G's, an undershirt (too lazy to take off when I was changing) a long sleeve thin thermal, my Ute shirt and a jacket, two pairs of socks and my casual boots. (We just bought me 3 different pairs of boots this week too-Happy early birthday to me!) Oh, and of course pants.  In my bag that I took I had 2 pairs of gloves, my ear warmers, a beanie, a scarf, another jacket that was super soft, and we brought a blanket. I wore the first 7 layers for the first half then added the 2nd jacket, my gloves, scarf and ear warmers. It wasn't super cold, especially since it wasn't windy, but since I was getting chilly with all of those layers half way through the game I'm sure I would've have been a lot colder without the layers. It also doesn't help that I have some disease where I have poor circulation so my feet and hands get colder faster and go completely numb, with added charlie horses sometimes too. I'd rather be sweating to death then shivering convulsively anyway :)

First Snow...What in the #@!%&*%$#@!%&

The title is a reference to all of the swear words going through my head Thursday. I was getting ready for work and snow was in the forecast but it was only raining at our apartment. I get a text from Kevin saying "Bundle up, drive safe and please don't hate me today." Well, that's not a good text haha.When I go outside the mountains are blinding white. My drive to work wasn't bad at all, just a little wet, and I needed new windshield wipers. Halfway though then that's where the snow was sticking to the valley. I work on the benches of Cottonwood Heights so this is my view from outside our office.

Thankfully, it did melt by the next day. It was still colder than I wanted and I was happy when I came home. I will just need to go to the gym after work on snowy looking days so that I'm extra happy... Ugh, this is just the beginning...

St. George Trip

It is so weird to "visit" St. George, can I just tell you that? Well, last weekend we went down for one of my best friends wedding. We were blessed enough to be invited to their sealing. Can I just say Wow! Besides our sealing of course, I don't know if I have felt the spirit so much, or felt the love of the couple so much. Their sealing was absolutely amazing, pretty much everyone was crying with so much joy. I want to say so much more about it and the feelings that I felt and what I could see that Tiffany was feeling but that's personal. I will say I'm so happy for them and they are perfect for each other. Beyond perfect actually. Tiffany has been such a great friend to me all these years, especially when I didn't deserve such a great friend like her. We love Tiffany and Joey very much and are very excited for the adventures we will go on and the Jazz games we will attend :)

Now, about St. George. I NEEDED this trip home. It was perfect timing, the weather was perfect we got to see so many friends. A ton of mine that I went to high school with and some of our best friends that were in our ward. (TJ & Dora so sorry we weren't able to see you two, we love you guys!) But seriously, I know I complain about being in Salt Lake a lot and I really don't hate it. It's just hard and it's different. It's change. Being back in St. George just put the biggest smile on my face the whole weekend. I was so just so happy. I wasn't worried about anything, except having to go back up to Salt Lake. After running an errand by myself I drove up on the Red Hill and stopped and just took it all in. It really was the perfect weekend and I definitely needed that sunshine before the first snow hit us here. Many of you may think that St. George is boring, or that Salt Lake is way prettier and a lot better. But not me, I'm from Dixie and if there is any chance in the world for us to go back and raise our family there I will take it, that's where my roots are. St. George is perfect in my eyes just the way it is.

Sunday before we left then we went to go see my grandparents. I've missed them so much! Anyway, my grandpa used to be an avid fisher and has a ton of stuff. So when Kevin was mentioning that he has started the hobby grandpa went and brought out one of his tackle boxes and said here ya go. Just think of me when you catch a fish :) There was more to the conversations and everything but I totally started tearing up. I absolutely love my grandparents and they are the best people I know and they are doing great for being over 90. So having my grandpa give away some of his stuff and him talking about getting rid of a lot of things lately just got to me. That they won't be around forever and that kind of makes it bite that much more to be away from them. But I love them and this blog probably doesn't make any sense because I'm already crying my eyes out. I'm very sorry about the randomness, but oh well. Guess all I needed to say in this was I miss St. George and everything and just about everyone in it. Don't take for granted the time you have with your loved ones because you never know when things will change.

Everything In Between

Sorry for the random posts, but at least I'm getting caught up!

We were invited to one of the Bee's games with a buddy/comp. from Kevin's mission, his wife and their little boy. 

I went to one of Bentley's soccer games. He loves it and get's so excited when the ball comes towards him so he can kick it. His last game is this Saturday then he might be doing indoor soccer as well!

 Preston is so stinkin cute! He says "Chelle" all the time when he sees me which is awesome and makes me feel loved. For the longest time if I said "Can you say Chelle?" Then he'd just nod but if I'd ask him to say it he wouldn't. Now he's doing the same thing with Kevin. 

Brooke had to come down to Northern Utah from Rexburg for some career things for the Nursing program so she picked Chrissy up from Provo and we met for Dinner at Zupa's. I miss these girls!! (Sorry for posting a crappy picture)

 Kevin and I went to the Utah vs. USC game last weekend. There was an accident with Trax so we missed the first two touchdowns. Regardless of not winning, it was still a fun game. Cold, but fun!

One of Kevin's best friends Koy married the love of his life Courtney. I've known them as long as I've known Kevin and they are wonderful friends to have! We're so happy for them and excited that they joined the marriage band wagon. 

 My Aunt had 4 extra tickets that my Uncle gets so she called and asked if we wanted them. How can I say no to General Conference in person? I can't, that's why I think I've gone almost every year since I was 11 or so. We had wonderful tickets and I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to listen to our Prophet's voice. It really is so much better going to a live session than watching it on TV. As soon as President Monson walks into the Conference Center the place goes completely quiet as everyone stands. I get chills every time and know without a doubt those men are men of God. 

Kevin was getting sick as we were driving back from Bear Lake so he didn't end up coming. Luckily, we invited Jacob and Sydney Fryer to take our two extra tickets and I got to be the third wheel with them. 

Phew! That felt like it was a TON to catch up on! I'm just glad we've been doing things that are partially worth blogging about. Salt Lake is the same for me, just getting a little colder. Kevin still loves it and is really enjoying his classes at the U.

Thanks for reading and sorry for some ugly and crappy pictures. Love you all!!