Love is... a Saint in our January

Here is the thing,... I am well aware that complaints of horrible weather should not be crossing these lips. I have cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and every other non-immediate relative living in Canada. The experience in me knows that they have it worse errr day all day. However, I just cannot help but feel nauseas when I look outside at the inversion and know that breathing the SLC air equates to smoking 10 cigs in an hour, more or less. So it was only logical that we team up with our favorite friends Emma and Ike and head to St. George, where clean air and sunshine awaited us. Trust, it did not disappoint.

Take a look at that furrowed brow... doesn't it just scream "Please, take my photo". 

As a first morning in St. G tradish  we go and eat at the Bear Paw. Guys... guys. I just, I need it. It is SOOO good.

We went on some walking hikes post breakfast. It was a nice way to pretend we were working off all of our breakfast calories. There's nothing like self deceit to make you feel better about a 1500 calorie breakfast. We also went to see Brigham Young's winter home. It was really cool to see all of the old things and have Ikes dad give us the full tour via facetime before we went on the tour. He is what you might call 'a history buff' of sorts. Also, I have no idea why these pictures are smoking crack, but I cannot figure out how to line them up. Forgive me, it's a Monday.  

During this trip we learned a lot of things, mainly how to properly use a condiment cup. Did anyone else out there know that you're supposed to unfold the folds?  I have been living in darkness my entire life.

In Vegas we always go and get macarons from The Bouchon bakery and they are perfect. On this trip we went to El Segundo Sol on Ikes recommendation and O.M.G. it was delicious. I need to go back.

On our final day the guys treated us to massages and it was the perf ending to this trip. We also stopped at the Worlds Best Corndog truck, he scoffed at Tylers request for a meatless corndog so I was banned to the car. 

These guys are the best travel buddies ever and I simply cannot wait to hit the road again with them. You should all go and visit Emma's blog for better pictures and more details.

Love is... the big 6-0

My dad turned 60 this January and it was epic. I made this slideshow with all the old pics I could find and it turned out well, if I do say so myself. The original version had lots of comments/well wishes/memories from a lot of the young men that he got to know in his time as YM Pres in our ward. I removed them in case some were too personal for other to see, but let's just say that his influence was clearly very great in these guys' lives. My dad is pretty cool so I can see why they all love him so much.
Anway, happy birthday dad. I think you're just the swaggiest guy I know. Thanks for always letting my have parties and making countless runs to school to give me the homework I undoubtedly left at home.

Sorry, you can only watch the vid if you are on a computer. Due to music copyright, the iphone/ipad does not work

Love is... he can dance if he wants to

We recently discovered Discovery Gateway. It. is. AMAZING. I want to play with all the toys there... We took Jude to cure some of the winter blues and it was just the right thing. Ty got to come along with us because his work gave him an entire week off for Christmas (thanks Qualtrics, you're a gem). I cannot wait to take this little bum back.

We also took him to his first ever movie theater movie. And by "we" I mean Tyler, Mike and Kris (my in-laws), and me. He was a star, if I do say so myself. We saw Frozen and fell in love. I love it sooo hard. I cannot wait until it comes out.

And lastly but not leastly, watch this video... and then watch it again. And then watch it a third time and text me afterwards to say thanks. 

Love is... a Merry Christmas

Our Christmas was super low key and just what the doctor ordered. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and then Christmas day with Tylers family. On our way to Kaysille, I snapped this pretty little shot of the mountains. Sometimes I really don't like Utah, and sometimes I do.

 Tyler decided to make this awesome fashion statement.

 My cute mother in law made us this super cute care package and left it in our room. Complete with Oreos for Ty and cotton candy for me.

 On Christmas day we went for a walk and it was grand.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday season and per the norm we were showered with generosity and kindness. We played fun games with both families and talked and ate delicious goodies. 

Love is... FINALLY

So... Tyler is taking his last final on Tuesday and then he. is. DONE! Graduated. Outta there. Kaput. Home for the holidays and all the other days too. I cannot.. there are just no words. To say that I am excited is an understatement. This could be my only Christmas present and that would be just grand because it is the BEST CHRISTMAS EVERRRRR! (But you know... If you've already purchased things...).
I will admit, at first I was thinking big... big deal =big party. Tyler made it very clear in a very blatant way... NO PARTY! So, being the good wifey I am, I did not throw a party. I threw a dinner. We invited his family and it was just perfect. Everyone came with smiles on, favorite holiday treat in hand. We had delish food and good conversation and no one mentioned how cramped it was in our little townhome. I was so grateful they came to support him and I forgot to toast him so I will toast him now:

Tyler, I just want everyone to know how freaking proud I am of you.

You have worked so hard since day one, going to school and working

full time. You deserve a million oreos for all you do. Congrats!

*now everyone take a drink*

Sweet. Thanks for participating and making that toast possible. As far as photos go, I decided to combine my "show off Christmas" post with my dinner post. It just made sense.

Let us take a moment to talk about these two pictures. On the right, we have the stockings that my sweet, talented mom sewed for us. On the left we have my dads vintage, leather hockey skates. I mean, how awesome... right??

 Look at this goodness. We had rolls, an herb risotto, parmesean peas, roasted brussel sprouts w/a garlic aioli (get the recipe here, you NEED it) and Kris' pork chops. SOOOOOO good.

Love is... a Winter Wonderland

I love the holidays. SO So so much. 'Tis the season for love, snow, and parties. We got to go to the Qualtrics Christmas party and we loved it. We ate super good food and even better cheesecake. They had dueling pianos and a lot of other really fun things. They showed us some Qualtrics facts and did you know... they consumed 1.5 tons of cereal this past year and 60lbs of nacho cheese? Yikes.

It's pretty dreamy looking right? We were all supposed to wear white. Winter Wonderland theme... that was maybe the only thing I wasn't overly thrilled about. Which sounds really ungrateful. Here they are, throwing a party with nice things, and I am complaining. 

Can I just say that I am really grateful Ty is working for Qualtrics?! When he was working for Fastenal, he was so stressed and tired and grouchy all of the time. He was quite miserable. They did not appreciate their employees and a bunch of other really mean things I want to say about them. At Qualtrics they really do care about their employees and take care of them and I just love them so much.

Love is... Judescapades

Jude has been up to tons of mischief in the past little bit. What is it about turning two that makes a child feel like they have to start head butting the dog and draw with crayons on the furniture? It is a mystery to me. 

How sweet is this picture? Fern and him are best pals and they always play and laugh together. It is SO cute. 

Notice the lipstick on his cheek? What a lucky son of a gun

 My sister in law and brother in law babysat Jude for us while we were at Kalie DeManns 25th birthday celebration and when we went to pick him up, he was cuddled up in bed with Asher while Sarah was reading them a story. Sweetest thing ever.