Tis the season

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to see the lights at temple square. We were so excited when we got tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with Natalie Cole. One of the best concerts I've been to in a long time!

I love that the sets for the concert change every year. This year the decorations, the dancers, singers and the orchestra were amazing!

We had two extra tickets to the concert so we had Aaron bring his date, Diana, along with us. 

And of course, I couldn't leave without getting a picture of the beautiful lights!

This week was Nick's company Christmas party with OrangeSoda at the new Sleepy Ridge golf course club house. I didn't even know that this place existed, but it's really beautiful - inside and out!

(I couldn't really take a picture of it in the dark -- but this is what it looks like!)

It was so fun to put up our first Christmas tree together this year! If you know me, you probably know that I love black. No, I'm not gothic, but I have tons of black clothes, I decorate my apartment with black.... so you can imagine how excited I was to find these fun black ornaments! I just love them. 

This treat has been my addiction this season. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with hot chocolate. The cookies are probably my favorite part of the combination though. I freeze a whole batch of them so I can pop them in the oven and have them whenever I want! 

Don't worry, I didn't eat this all by myself! Although I probably could have.... :)

Back in November, we took a quick trip to Durango to see Nick's family. My favorite part was that they turn the famous railroad passenger train into the Polar Express for the season. It's exactly like the book --all of the kids even wear pajamas and they give you hot chocolate a long the way. We didn't actually go on the train, but it would be so fun to go with little kids! 

Autumn!

Autumn is probably one of my most favorite times of year! I've been trying to enjoy every last minute of it before the first "real' snowfall hits Provo.

We've had a pretty busy last month or so, but here are some of the things that we've been up to...

The end-of-the-year Platinum party was mid-October in Salt Lake at the Gateway. We had a great time seeing our friends from Orlando for the first time since we left!

My friends happened to be in Salt Lake from Logan that night as well, and it was so fun to be with them-- they never cease to entertain me!

Nick and his friends, Travis and Dan, decided to go all-out for the BYU homecoming game. ( I told Nick that this is what he's going to look like when he's 60). But despite their Cougar spirit, our team ended up getting killed by TCU. But we all still had a good time :)

Possibly the funniest, and most random, story of the month. We had to take Nick to the ER! He got a really sudden infection in his toe -- which swelled up to probably two to three times its size. It looked pretty scary so we decided to go get it checked out. It turned out the be Cellulitis, but the doctors immediately put him on IVs and gave him x-rays. We were really glad that we didn't wait to go to the hospital!

I'll spare you the up-close picture of the toe, but believe me, it was huge!

When Nick's family heard the news, they decided to come see us for the weekend -- along with their three doggies. It was so fun to have them here, and Nick definitely loved having his dogs in the house!

And last, but not least, some of my favorite Fall pictures! Provo is so beautiful this time of year.

This is the view from the stairs up to our apartment.

Nick and I drove the alpine loop through Sundance. It was the first that either of us had been up there, and it was absolutely breathtaking! It was a great Saturday drive.

Thanks to Lindsey for finding my wedding bouquet on UtahBrideBlog!
(upper left corner)
I was so lucky to work with Studiostems and Blush as a great photographer!

A Few Updates...

Here's what we've been up to the past month

Our first REAL Salt Lake Game

New member in our household....

Great win at the USU game

Along with the family who came to cheer on the Cougars

Followed by watching General Conference from the Press Room to write my articles for the Daily Universe

And luckily my parents found extra tickets so Nick and a friend could come with me :)

6 Months!

Happy SIX months Honey! Can't believe how fast it's gone -- but it's been the best!

1 year ago....

18 months ago...

2 years ago

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fabulous Labor Day weekend with my family in Logan! It was the perfect end to our summer vacation. Super relaxing -- but never a dull moment!

It started off with boating at Willard Bay. It was the first time that Nick and I were on our boat together! Crazy, I know. We were happy to get one last great boating day in before the chilly Autumn temperatures.

Let me just say this: five tramps, 150 high school kids and free Red Bull for all. Quite the party.

Thanks to Aaron and his "connections" his friends, the Red Bull Girls, stopped by Scott's after-football-game party at our house to pass out hundreds of cans of Red Bull. Not to mention that Scottie and the neighborhood boys gathered all of their tramps in our backyard.

I don't know many other parents that would let their 17-year-old have a party like that! haha.

On Saturday, Aaron took Nick, Dad and I on our first off-roading adventure up to the top of Mt. Logan. My neck was a little sore the day after, but the view at the top was totally worth it!

On Monday, Dad gathered up all the bikes and took us to the top of Green Canyon to ride the single-track all the way to the bottom - along with Kona. Green Canyon is so beautiful in the Summertime!

All of us at the top

And at the bottom

Thanks, mom and dad for the great weekend!

The Last of Orlando

Since we've been back in Utah for a few weeks now, I figured it's time to update about our last weeks in Orlando!

Some highlights:

We discovered that Downtown Disney is a great place to go for Sunday night walks- lots to walk around and see, but you don't have to pay to get in!

Probably one of my favorite parts about it was the Mr. Potato Head store. They had every Disney Character imaginable that you could turn your Mr. Potato Head into.

Darth Vadar

Mary Poppins and Mr. Incredible

Little Mermaid and Peter Pan

Dad stopped in for a visit between his trips. He was only there for a day, but we decided to go the "Holy Land Experience," something I never even knew about until I moved to Orlando. Probably not something either of us would do on a vacation, but we're glad we went! It was very educational... and made me realize I need to brush up on my Bible knowledge!

We decided to make use of our spare bedroom and build a fort! I don't think I've done that since about the 5th grade. But hey, why not use the extra bedroom while we have it?

And last of all, our cute apartment. With two bedrooms, two bathrooms, walk-in closets, a huge bathtub and a laundry room, I have to admit that I miss it! It was a great apartment to have lots of visitors!

More family comes to visit!

On the way to southern Florida, Nick's Mom, sister Jessica and her husband Tyler stopped in Orlando to hang out with us over the weekend. We hadn't all been together since Christmas! We decided to hit the theme parks, and all voted on Universal's Islands of Adventure because of their awesome roller coasters, and the fact that it was new for all of them!

Sweet 3D glasses for the Spiderman ride- which is one of my favorites

The Grinch store in Dr. Suess Land. I think Nick's trying to look like the Grinch, but I could be wrong.....

Hot and sweaty with tired feet- can't be at a Florida theme park without it!

Jurassic Park

The next weekend, Nick and I headed down to Naples to see his sibling's new home-front. We had a great Sunday together going to church, eating Becki's traditional "Sunday dinner" and going to the beach.

A Naples sunset complete with lighting, rain clouds, and DOLPHINS! Couldn't be better.